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THE   LIBRARIES 


Bequest  of 
Frederic  Bancroft 

1860-1945 


RiCHAKD  Hooker  Wilmer 


Richard  Hooker  Wilmer 


SECOND  BISHOP  OF  ALABAMA 


A  BIOGRAPHY 


BY 


WALTER  C.  WHITAKER 


RECTOR    OF    ST.    JOHN  S    CHURCH,    KNOXVILLE,    TENNESSEE 


>  >     •«      « 


PHILADELPHIA 

GEORGE   W.  JACOBS  &  CO. 

PUBLISHERS 


% 


Copyricht,   1907,  by 

George    W.    Jacobs   &    Co. 

Published  September,  1907. 


•    *  •  »  •  »    «      •  ,     •      • 

.•        ••»••<  •••       ••       ' 

•*.  ..       ....••       • 


t     •  -       • 

•  •         • 

•  •  • 


All  rights  reserved. 
Printed  in  U.  S.  A. 


CO 


^   ^  CONTENTS 

H^  CHAPTER  PAGE 


I     WHO  THE  WILMERS  WERE   5 

n     EARLY  DAYS  AND  FIRST  PASTORATE 16 

HI     WILMINGTON  AND   EERRYVILLE    40 

IV     UPPERVILLE   AND   FOREST    57 

V     EMMANUEL,  HENRICO    COUNTY    66 

VI     THE   CONFEDERATE   BISHOP    97 

VII     GENERAL    ORDERS    NO.    38    122 

VIII  THE    BISHOP   AND    THE    GENERAL    CONVEN- 
TION     149 

IX  GATHERING   UP   THE  FRAGMENTS    167 

X  SOME   SERMONS   AND   SERMON   METHODS    ..  192 

XI  A    CONTROVERSALIST    208 

XII  THE  BISHOP  AND  THE  NEGRO    232 

XIII  ECCLESIASTICAL      AND      DOCTRINAL      POSI- 

TIONS      241 

XIV  BISHOP  AND  FATHER   261 

XV     LATTER   DAY    MINISTRATIONS    2S6 


PREFATORY  NOTE 

Occasionally  some  man  arises,  does  his  life  work, 
and  passes,  whose  personality  is  so  striking,  or 
whose  character  is  so  strong,  or  whose  destiny  is 
to  be  a  chief  actor  in  so  important  a  work  or  period, 
that  simple  justice  to  those  who  come  after,  de- 
mands that  they  shall  have  the  benefit  and  inspira- 
tion of  his  example. 

Of  such  sort  was  the  second  Bishop  of  Alabama. 
The  only  Bishop  consecrated  in  the  Protestant 
Episcopal  Church  in  the  Confederate  States  of 
America,  the  man  upon  whom  in  the  providence  of 
God  it  devolved  to  make  the  fight  in  these  United 
States  for  the  independence  and  supremacy  of  the 
Church  in  things  spiritual,  and  the  last  of  that  era 
in  which  the  individuality  of  the  Bishop  so  often 
dominated  and  overshadowed  the  individuality  of 
the  Diocese,  he  was  peculiarly  fitted  by  God  and  by 
his  own  corresponding  efforts  to  perform  well  the 
tasks  assigned  him  and  to  carry  himself  through 
all  events. 

The  consecration  to  God's  service  of  the  life  of 
a  full-blooded  young  man,  the  undaunted  courage 
with  which  for  ten  years  this  young  man  fought 
against  a  break-down  that  threatened  to  blight  his 
whole    ministry,    the    self-forgetfulness    with    which 


RICHARD  HOOKER  WILMER 

he  apparently  threw  away  valuable  years  that 
he  might  do  pioneer  work  for  the  Kingdom  of 
God,  the  dignity  with  which  he  took  up  the  un- 
expected responsibilities  of  the  bishopric,  the  clear- 
headed courage  with  which  he  addressed  himself 
to  the  problems  of  Church  and  State  which  immedi- 
ately confronted  him,  the  patience  with  which  he 
toiled  and  waited  for  the  long  arrested  development 
of  his  Diocese,  the  self-restraint  which  took  a  natu- 
rally destructive  wit  and  bent  it,  not  to  self-pleasing 
but  to  the  advancement  of  the  cause  of  Jesus 
Christ — all  these  matters  are  well  worth  the  re- 
counting for  the  instruction  and  encouragement  they 
bear  in  the  telling. 

Not  of  his  own  motion  did  the  writer  of  this 
volume  undertake  the  telling.  He  knew  the  Bishop 
well,  and  saw  much  of  him  and  served  under  him 
for  many  years.  But  he  perceived  that  it  is  impos- 
sible for  a  young  man  to  retrace  the  life  of  one 
whom  he  knew  only  in  old  age  and  to  delineate  to 
the  satisfaction  of  life-long  friends  those  subtle  ele- 
ments of  head  and  heart  that  make  the  essential  man 
and  draw  men  to  him. 

The  author  would  not  have  yielded  to  solicitation 
had  it  not  been  for  a  feeling  that  the  work  had  been 
delayed  long  enough,  and  had  not  the  Reverend 
Richard  Wallace  Hogue,  of  Wilmington,  North 
Carolina,  already  collected  many  most  valuable 
documents  and  letters  without  which  a  biography 
would   have  been   attempted   in   vain. 

More  than  two  years  passed  after  the  beginning 
was  made.     Progress  was  slow  on  account  of  the 


PREFATORY  NOTE 

incessant  demands  of  a  parochial  ministry.  The 
inevitable  delay  has  not  been  without  good  result 
along  several  lines,  chiefly  that  it  has  developed 
much  new  material  and  has  given  opportunity  for 
the  accurate  checking  of  much  that  had  been  writ- 
ten out  from  the  memory  of  personal  conversations. 

The  book  has  been  written  almost  entirely  from 
original  sources  of  information  and  in  great  part 
from  unpublished  manuscript  of  the  Bishop  him- 
self. Of  course,  Bishop  Meade's  "Old  Families  and 
Churches  of  Virginia,"  and  Dr.  Packard's  "Re- 
miniscences" have  been  drawn  upon  in  the  early 
chapters.  Chapter  VIII  is  based  upon  a  verbatim 
report  of  the  debates  in  the  General  Convention  of 
1865.  Some  newspaper  stories  have  been  used,  but 
only  when  verified :  and  many  of  these,  mutilated 
and  garbled,  have  been  restored  to  their  original 
form.  With  scarcely  an  exception  quotation  marks 
indicate  the  use  of  manuscript  in  the  handwriting 
of  the  person  quoted. 

The  most  generous  help  has  been  given  in  the 
collection  of  material  aiid  the  criticism  of  result. 
Thanks  are  due  to  Reverend  R.  W.  Micou,  of  the 
Theological  Seminary  of  Virginia,  the  Reverend  H. 
R.  Carson  of  Louisiana,  and  the  Reverend  P.  P. 
Phillips,  of  Alexandria,  Virginia,  and  the  rector  and 
vestry  of  Christ  Church,  Tuskaloosa,  Alabama,  for 
placing  especially  valuable  documents  at  the  writer's 
disposal.  Others  to  whom  he  is  no  less  grateful  for 
valuable  aid  have  expressly  asked  that  public  ac- 
knowledgment be  not  made. 

It  is  unfortunate  that  the  portrait  of  a  man  must 


RICHARD  HOOKER  WILMER 

be  the  man,  not  as  he  really  is,  but  as  he  appears  to 
the  artist.  The  qualities  that  to  one  would  seem 
dominant  to  another  fall  into  the  background. 
Bishop  Wilmer  would  appear  a  somewhat  different 
man  had  this  biography  been  written  by  another. 
Still,  the  likeness  is  not  necessarily  lost  because  the 
sense  of  proportion  varies.  The  writer  trusts  that 
he  has  not  marred  the  impression  of  rectangular 
massiveness,  that  he  has  sought  to  convey  as  the 
chief  characteristic  of  Richard  Hooker  Wilmer. 

WALTER  C.  WHITAKER. 


RICHARD  HOOKER  WILMER 

CHAPTER  I 

WHO    THE   WILMERS   WERE 

The  Wilmers  of  England  were  country  gentlemen, 
and,  being  country  gentlemen,  were  Royalists.  From 
the  earliest  days  they  were  loyal  to  constituted  au- 
thority and  opposed  to  enforced  conformity  to  any 
arbitrary  code  of  morals.  When  Charles  I  was  be- 
headed and  Cromwell  became  Protector  of  England 
they  were  forced  to  join  in  the  Cavalier  emigration 
of  1649-1C59  in  order  to  escape  the  tender  mercies 
of  Puritan  intolerance.  They  settled  on  the  Eastern 
Shore  of  Maryland,  and  there  remained  for  more 
than  a  hundred  and  fifty  years. 

The  head  of  the  American  branch,  Simon  Wil- 
mer,  was  elected  one  of  the  vestrymen  of  St.  Paul's 
Parish,  New  Kent  County,  on  January  24th,  1693. 
He  represented  Kent  in  the  Maryland  Legislature  of 
1698.  Six  generations  bring  the  family  down  to 
Richard  Hooker.  The  heads  of  four  of  these  genera- 
tions were  named  Simon,  the  two  exceptions  being 
the  son  of  the  original  Simon,  who  was  named 
Lambert,  and  the  father  of  the  Bishop  of  Alabama, 
who  was  named  William  Holland.  The  home  of  the 
family  was  from  an  early  date  known  as  "White 
House  Farm." 

There  were  always  clergymen  in  the  family,  and  of 


RICHARD  HOOKER  WILMER 

Simon,   the  grandfather  of  Richard  Hooker,   there 
are  many  traditions  showing  his  fearlessness  in  deal- 
ing with  the  rougher  element  of  his  Parish  and  the 
drinking  habits  which  were  then  so  common.     It  is 
related  that  when  he  was  called  to  a  certain  Parish 
he  found  that  it  was  a  custom  to  have  all  the  children 
christened  at  home,  where  the  service  was  followed 
by  much  feasting  and  drinking.     In  vain  he  appealed 
to  the  people  to  bring  the  children  to  church.     In 
vain  he  preached  against  the  unholy  custom  of  the 
neighborhood  of  turning  a  religious  service  into  the 
occasion  for  a  carousal.     He  even  declared  that  in 
future  he  would  not  baptize  in  private.    However,  he 
electrified  his  congregation  one  Sunday  by  announc- 
ing that  he  had  changed  his  mind  in  regard  to  bap- 
tizing in  private,  and  that  thereafter  he  would  be 
very  glad  to  baptize  a  child  at  home  whenever  there 
was  any  cjuestion  of  its  legitimacy.     Tradition  says 
that  there  was  a  rush  of  parents  and  infants  to  the 
church  after  this. 

William  Holland  Wilmer,  father  of  the  Bishop  of 
Alabama,  and  fifth  son  of  Simon  and  Ann  Ringgold 
Wilmer,  was  born  at  the  ancestral  home  in  Maryland, 
October  29th,  1782.  He  was  one  of  three  brothers, 
all  of  whom  entered  the  ministry  of  the  Protestant 
Episcopal  Church,  and  one  of  whom,  another  Simon, 
was  father  of  Joseph  Pere  Bell  Wilmer,  Bishop  of 
Louisiana.  He  was  educated  at  Washington  College. 
Kent  County,  and  ordained  in  1808  by  Bishop 
Claggett,  and  for  several  years  had  charge  of  his 
parish  at  Chestertown.  At  the  age  of  thirty,  having 
then  been  four  years  in  the  ministry,  he  removed  to 

6 


WHO  THE  WILMERS  WERE 

Virginia  at  the  instance  of  Mr.  (afterward  Bishop) 
Meade,  and  became  Rector  of  St.  Paul's,  Alexandria, 
(1812).  He  was  pre-eminent  for  ability  and  zeal. 
He  had  a  strong  body,  a  clear  mind,  and  a  good 
heart,  and  he  gave  himself  up  unreservedly  to  the 
work  which  he  had  undertaken. 

That  work  was  nothing  less  than  the  rehabilitation 
of  the  Church  in  Virginia.  Her  prestige  as  the 
"Established  Church"  having  been  lost  after  the 
Revolution,  and  her  endowments  swept  away  only 
ten  years  before  Wilmer's  coming,  the  Virginia 
Church  was  indeed  poor  and  dispirited.  As  soon  as 
their  "living"  was  taken  from  them  the  clergy  in 
large  numbers  forsook  the  ministry,  and  turned  to 
secular  callings,  and,  in  some  cases,  to  loose  living. 
Only  thirteen  could  be  assembled  at  the  Diocesan 
Convention  of  181 2,  and  when  the  depressed  little 
company  adjourned  they  did  not  expect  ever  to  meet 
in  Convention  again.  The  laity  were  even  more  in- 
different and  in  some  neighborhoods,  if  we  may 
accept  apparently  well-authenticated  stories,  did  not 
seem  especially  shocked  that  a  neglected  or  stolen 
chalice  became  the  wine  cup  at  a  drinking  bout,  that 
cheese  was  passed  about  on  a  paten  abstracted  fnm 
the  church  locker,  and  that  a  marble  font  was  used  as 
a  horse  trough.  When  William  Meade  was  made 
Deacon,  the  year  before  Wilmer  came,  "no  minister 
had  been  ordained  for  years,  save  one  unworthy  fel- 
low, and  it  was  a  passing  wonder  to  the  people  that  a 
young  man  of  good  family,  an  educated  man,  a  grad- 
uate of  Princeton,  should  enter  the  ministry  of  the 
Episcopal  Church !" 

7 


RICHARD  HOOKER  WILMER 

Bishop  Madison  died  the  year  Wilmer  came  to 
Virginia,  and  two  years  elapsed  before  the  Diocese 
could  be  persuaded  to  elect  a  successor  to  him.  Mr. 
Wilmer  had  been  elected  President  of  the  Standhig 
Committee  of  the  Diocese  on  May  25th,  1813, — his 
first  Convention  in  Virginia, — and  by  virtue  of  1  is 
office  he  presided  over  the  Convention  of  1814,  which 
elected  "William  Channing  Moore  of  New  York, 
Bishop.  He  was  largely  instrumental  in  bringing 
about  any  election  at  all,  and  in  securing  the  election 
of  Bishop  Moore.  He  stirred  the  hearts  of  his  hear- 
ers by  his  Convention  sermon,  in  which  he  plead 
eloquently  for  the  arising  of  the  Church  from  her 
death-like  sleep  to  a  new  and  consecrated  energy  in 
setting  forward  the  rule  of  Jesus  Christ  and  the  inter- 
ests of  the  Protestant  Episcopal  Church. 

He  did  not  content  himself  with  exhorting.  He 
worked,  and  did  things.  His  Parish  was  an  offshoot 
of  Christ  Church,  and  was  the  immediate  result  of  a 
schism  in  that  congregation.  An  insignificant  little 
building  served  as  a  place  of  worship.  It  did  not  suit 
the  taste  of  Mr.  Wilmer,  and  he  went  to  work  to  re- 
place it  with  a  suitable  structure.  It  was  ii  large 
undertaking  for  the  young  Parish,  but  he  put  it 
through  successfully,  and  at  the  end  of  six  years 
witnessed  the  consecration  of  a  church  that  seated 
nearly  twelve  hundred  persons  (May  i/th,  1818). 
The  proportions  of  the  building  were  those  of  the 
holy  city,  the  New  Jerusalem;  it  lay  foursquare; — the 
length,  and  the  breadth,  and  the  height  of  it  were 
equal.  Its  apparent  length  was  increased  by  heavy 
galleries  which  lined  the  walls     on  three  sides,  and 

8 


WHO  THE  WILMERS  WERE 

were  set  apart  for  the  Negroes.  The  acoustics  were 
perfect.  The  church  stands  to-day  a  monument  to 
the  honest  work  that  was  done  in  those  days. 

His  greatest  work,  however,  was  in  diocesan  mat- 
ters. If  the  Virginia  Church  was  to  be  buih  up  to 
last  beyond  a  generation  it  must  be  built  on  a  founda- 
tion, after  that  of  the  Apostles  and  Prophets,  of 
rational,  intelligent  service.  Not  only  must  she 
educate  her  clergy,  but  she  must  see  that  her  laity 
of  the  coming  generation  should  receive  their 
secular  education  in  a  religious  atmosphere.  As 
soon,  therefore,  as  he  saw  a  Bishop  at  work  in  Vir- 
ginia, he  turned  all  his  extra-parochial  energy  to  the 
matter  of  Christian  and  theological  education.  As 
early  as  1815  he  was  striving  to  re-establish  at  Wil- 
liam and  Mary  College  the  Chair  of  Theology,  which 
had  been  suppressed  thirty-three  years  before,  when 
deism  was  sweeping  the  country;  for  he  held  that  a 
College  that  did  not  have  a  course  in  Theology  was 
as  defective  as  if  it  lacked  a  course  in  Mathematics. 
His  life  thereafter  shows  how  he  persisted  in  his 
undertaking.  In  1818  he  became  first  President  of 
the  "Society  for  the  Education  of  Pious  Young 
Men,"  founded  that  year  in  Washington,  and  he 
urged  the  clergy  to  take  students  for  the  ministry 
into  their  families  and  secure  for  them  licenses  as  lay 
readers.  In  1819  he  estabHshed  and  conducted  the 
"Theological  Repertory,"  which  was  long  the  organ 
of  the  Education  Society.  In  1820  he  secured  the 
appointment  of  a  Theological  Professor  at  William 
and  Mary  College.  In  1821  he  recommended  the 
establishment  of  a  Theological  School  at  Williams- 

9 


RICHARD  HOOKER  WILMER 

burg,  and  advised  "that  a  board  of  trustees  be  ap- 
pointed to  select  one  or  more  professors,  and  to 
raise  funds  for  that  purpose,  and  to  correspond  with 
the  Standing  Committee  of  Maryland  and  of  North 
Carolina  to  ascertain  if  they  are  disposed  to  co- 
operate with  us."  In  1822  he  reported  that  ten  thou- 
sand dollars  had  been  raised,  and  that  the  projected 
school  had  been  opened  with  one  instructor  and  one 
pupil. 

This  was  the  beginning  of  the  Theological 
Seminary  of  Virginia,  the  great  nursery  of  the  South- 
ern Church  for  well  nigh  three  quarters  of  a  century, 
and  the  mother  of  every  missionary  enterprise  of  the 
American  Church.  In  1823  the  school  was  removed 
to  Alexandria  and  opened  in  the  school-house  in  St. 
Paul's  churchyard.  The  Reverend  Reuel  Keith  oc- 
cupied the  Chairs  of  Old  and  New  Testament  Biblical 
Criticism  and  Evidences,  while  Dr.  Wilmer  took  the 
Chairs  of  Systematic  Divinity,  Church  History  and 
Ecclesiastical  Polity.  Fourteen  students  were  en- 
rolled. 

While  at  Alexandria  Dr.  Wilmer's  overflowing 
energy  caused  him  to  accept  also  the  rectorship  of 
St.  John's  Church,  Lafayette  Square,  Washington,  a 
newly  organized  Parish;  and.  with  the  aid  of  an 
Assistant  at  St.  John's,  he  held  this  dual  rectorship 
for  one  year.  At  the  end  of  this  period  he  resigned 
the  charge  of  St.  John's  as  each  Parish  then  needed 
the  entire  time  of  its  incumbent,  and  as  he  preferred 
to  remain  with  that  Parish  which  would  keep  him 
in  closest  touch  with  the  Theological  Seminary.  It 
was  the  same  devotion  to  theological  education  that 

10 


WHO  THE  WILMERS  WERE 

caused  him  to  decline  the  assistantship  of  Monumen- 
tal Church,  Richmond,  a  post  which  was,  in  all  but 
name,  a  rectorship,  since  the  rector,  Bishop  Moore, 
was  engrossed,  as  a  matter  of  course,  in  diocesan  af- 
fairs. 

It  is  a  curious  fact  that  many  who  have  written  of 
Dr.  Wilmer  have  appeared  to  be  unaware  that  he 
was  first  rector  of  St.  John's  Washington,  the  most 
noteworthy  congregation  at  the  Capital.  The  vestry 
of  this  Parish  took  occasion,  in  resolutions  adopted 
August  1st,  1S27,  to  express  their  sense  of  loss  at 
his  untimely  death,  and  to  say  that  "Dr.  Wilmer  was 
first  rector  of  St.  John's,  had  organized  the  congre- 
gation, and  had  faithfully  and  zealously  discharged 
the  important  duties  of  the  ministry  while  Pastor  of 
the  church." 

In  1826,  however,  he  saw  his  way  clear  to  help 
forward  the  cause  of  Christian  education  more  ef- 
fectively than  ever  before,  yet  without  ceasing  to 
exercise  the  functions  of  the  ministry.  He  was 
called  to  the  Presidency  of  William  and  Mary  College 
and  the  rectorship  of  Bruton  Parish,  Williamsburg. 
His  ardent  desire  to  make  this  old  institution  of 
learning  a  source  of  Christian  inspiration  induced  him 
to  accept  both  offers.  He  went  to  Williamsburg  in 
1826,  but  lived  only  one  year. 

This  final  period  of  his  life  was,  though  so  brief,  a 
period  of  singular  energy  and  fruitfulness.  Besides 
thoroughly  performing  all  his  duties  as  President, 
and  holding  the  regular  Church  services  as  rector, 
he  conducted  informal  prayer-meetings,  and  delivered 
lectures  twice  a  week.     In  twelve  months  he  com- 

II 


RICHARD  HOOKER  WH.MER 

pletely  transfigured  the  social  and  religious  atmos- 
phere of  the  community.  His  ministry  covered  less 
than  twenty  years;  but  in  that  time  he  did  a  work  that 
not  only  exists  but  exists  palpably  in  the  Virginia  of 
to-day. 

Dr.  W'ilmer  was  a  prophet  who  received  honor  in 
his  own  country.  He  was  always  President  of  the 
Standing  Committee  and  Deputy  to  the  General 
Convention,  and  he  enjoyed  the  rare  honor  of  being 
President  of  the  House  of  Clerical  and  Lay  Deputies 
of  the  General  Convention  four  consecutive  times. 
His  election  to  this  high  office  was  due  as  much  to 
admiration  for  his  ability  as  an  apologist  and  debater 
as  to  recognition  of  his  extraordinary  capacity  as  an 
organizer  and  administrator.  In  1815  he  had  pub- 
lished "The  Episcopal  Manual."  one  of  the  earliest 
handbooks  of  the  Church,  and  the  book  went  through 
several  editions.  It  was  Dr.  Wilmer's  aim,  he  tells 
us,  to  "point  out  the  Church's  excellences,  to  illus- 
trate her  evangelical  character,  and  to  infuse  into  the 
hearts  of  her  children  a  portion  of  that  healthful 
spirit  which  pervades  all  her  services."  He  claimed 
for  his  work  "only  the  merit  of  a  compilation,  and  of 
an  attempt  to  bring  into  a  smaller  focus  the  irradia- 
tions of  piety  and  genius  with  which  the  subject  is 
enriched."  He  vigorously  combatted  "two  promin- 
ent errors"  on  the  part  of  Church  members,  namely, 
"on  one  hand  to  prostrate  or  undervalue  her  order 
and  institutions,  and  on  the  other  to  exhaust  all  their 
zeal  in  behalf  of  external  concerns  and  to  permit  the 
spirit  and  essence  of  religion  to  evaporate  in  this 
v/ay."     His  style  in  this  book  is  plain  and  grave,  al- 

12 


WHO  THE  WILMERS  WERE 

most  severe;  but  he  quotes  Hooker  in  justification: 
"The  time  will  come  when  three  words  spoken  with 
meekness  and  love  shall  obtain  a  far  more  blessed  re- 
ward than  three  thousand  volumes  written  with 
disdainful  sharpness  of  wit." 

Three  years  after  the  publication  of  the  Manual 
he  was  called  upon  to  defend  the  Church  in  a  con- 
troversy with  the  faculty  of  a  Roman  Catholic  college 
in  Georgetown,  who  put  forward  a  certain  Father 
Baxter  as  their  spokesman.  The  secular  press  was 
used  for  the  controversy,  there  being  no  Church 
papers,  and  soon  Dr.  Wilmcr's  wholehearted  defence 
had  become  so  aggressive  that  the  war  was  carried 
into  the  enemy's  country  and  the  assailant  was  more 
than  willing  to  retreat  from  the  field.  It  was  this 
controversy  that  gave  to  Dr.  Wilmer  his  national 
reputation. 

In  1812,  on  January  23rd,  Mr.  Wilmer,  already 
a  young  widower,  married  his  second  w'lie,  Marion 
Hannah  Cox,  of  Mount  Holly,  New  Jersey.  She 
was  a  daughter  of  Major  Richard  Cox,  of  the 
Revolutionary  Army,  and  was,  on  the  side  of  her 
mother,  Mercy  Taylor,  of  Monmouth,  New  Jersey,  a 
connection  of  Sir  Thomas  Scott  and  Sir  George 
Carteret.  Of  this  union  were  born  six  children — • 
three  boys  and  three  girls.  The  eldest,  William  Por- 
teous,  died  of  yellow  fever  in  Natchez,  Mississippi, 
just  as  he  attained  his  majority.  The  second,  Jane 
Eliza,  was  subsequently  married  to  the  Reverend 
Dr.  Samuel  Buel,  of  the  General  Theological  Semin- 
ary, New  York.  Richard  Hooker  was  the  third. 
Marion  Rebecca,  the  fourth,  became  the  wife  of  thr 

13 


RICHARD  HOOKER  WILAIER 

Reverend  R.  Templenian  Brown,  an  unusually 
talented  writer  and  preacher,  who  spent  his  last 
years  at  Rockville,  where  his  preaching  was  jno- 
nounced  by  a  Justice  of  the  Supreme  Court  of  the 
United  States  to  be  equal  to  any  he  had  ever  heard. 
George  Thorton,  the  fifth,  entered  the  ministry  a 
little  later  than  his  elder  brother,  was  at  different 
times  rector  of  Bruton  Parish,  Williamsburg,  and 
Christ  Church,  Mobile,  and  a  member  of  the  faculty 
of  the  University  of  the  South,  Sewanee,  and  died 
near  Chatham,  Virginia,  on  October  7th,  1898,  lack- 
ing only  a  few  months  of  attaining  fourscore  years. 
"His  life."  it  was  well  said,  'Svas  a  beautiful  example 
of  truth  and  high  principle — a  man  of  the  strictesi 
integrity  and  honor,  unswerving  in  the  discharge  of 
what  he  conceived  to  be  his  duty."  His  son,  the 
Reverend  C.  B.  Wilmer,  is  rector  of  St.  Luke's 
Church,  Atlanta,  Georgia.  The  sixth  child,  Maria 
Louisa,  was  married  to  Henry  I\I.  Bowyer,  of  Bote- 
tourt County,  \'irginia. 

None  of  these  children  bore  the  full  name  of  either 
parent,  or  of  any  relative  or  friend.  Dr.  Wilmer  had 
a  fixed  opinion  that  a  child  should  not  be  named 
after  a  living  person.  The  ground  of  his  objection  was 
the  possibility  of  backsliding  on  the  part  of  the 
original.  "The  record  of  a  life  is  not  made  up  until 
one  is  dead,"  he  said.  "The  name  of  a  living  person 
intended  to  be  a  mark  of  honor  or  of  affection  may 
become  a  stigma." 

The  mother  died  six  months  after  the  birth  of  the 
last  child,  when  Richard  Hooker  was  five  years  of 
age   (September    15,    1821)   and   was   buried   in   St. 

14 


WHO  THE  WILMERS  WERE 

Paul's  Cemetery,  Alexandria.  Shortly  afterward  Dr. 
Wilmer  married  his  third  wife,  Anne  Brice  Fitzhugh, 
by  whom  he  had  two  children.  He  died  July  23rd, 
1827,  and  was  buried  beneath  the  Chancel  of  Bruton 
Church,  Williamsburg. 


CHAPTER  II 

EARLY    DAYS   AND   FIRST    PASTORATE 

Richard  Hooker  W'ilincr.  second  Bishop  of  Ala- 
bama, was  born  in  Alexanch-ia,  Virginia,  March  15th, 
1816.  NelHe  Cnstis,  granddaughter  of  Martha  Wash- 
ington, was  his  god-mother.  Tliousands  of  boys  in 
Maryland  and  Virginia  lived  the  life  that  he  lived 
for  the  first  few  years.  School  occupied  much  of  his 
time;  horses  and  guns  more;  and  he  was  soon  an 
expert  judge  of  horsellcsh.  Bone  and  brawn  were 
developed  to  an  unusual  extent. 

Merry  and  openhearted  he  was  prone  to  mischief, 
as  usually  happens  with  boys  of  high  animal  spirits. 
One  anecdote,  which  he  used  to  tell  himself  at  this 
period,  is  worth  repeating  here.  While  he  was  at 
school  before  his  father's  death  the  teacher  punished 
him  by  a  flogging,  as  he  thought  unjustly.  He 
struggled  and  bit  the  teacher's  thumb,  and  told  him 
that  he  would  give  him  a  beating  as  soon  as  he  was 
big  enough.  His  father  removed  him  from  the 
school,  and  he  did  not  sec  the  teacher  again  until  he 
was  a  young  clergyman,  arrived  at  man's  estate  and 
a  picture  of  physical  strength.  Walking  up  to  the 
teacher,  who  did  not  recognize  him,  he  assumed  an 
air  of  great  ferociousness,  and  said,  "The  last  time  I 

16 


EARLY  DAYS  AND  FIRST  PASTORATE 

saw  you,  Sir,  I  promised  to  give  you  a  sound  thrash- 
ing the  next  time  we  met."  The  frightened 
pedagogue  besought  him  not  to  fulfill  his  promise, 
but  to  remember  that  he  was  a  clergyman.  Wilmer 
gave  a  great  laugh  and  shook  his  hand,  assuring  him 
he  had  no  mind  to  do  him  harm. 

The  robust  mode  of  his  life  in  boyhood  stood  him 
in  good  stead  at  an  early  day.  His  father  enjoyed 
salaries  which  for  that  time  were  considered  large, 
but  he  devoted  a  large  part  of  his  income  to  buying 
slaves  in  order  that  he  might  liberate  them  after- 
wards, and  when  he  died  he  left  little  behind  him  to 
support  his  family.  There  was  no  life  insurance,  and 
times  of  excessive  hardship  were  manifestly  near. 
The  family  returned  to  Alexandria,  where  the  strug- 
gle could  be  made  under  the  most  favorable 
circumstances.  The  step-mother  was  a  woman  of 
strong  character  and  infinite  resource,  and  between 
her  and  Richard  there  existed  a  perfect  accord  and 
mutual  love  that  seldom  attend  such  relationship. 
The  elder  brother  being  dead,  the  burden  of  support 
fell  upon  Richard  Hooker.  "When  I  was  a  lad  of 
thirteen,"  he  wrote  to  a  friend  many  years  after,  "I 
fed  my  mother's  family  of  eight  children,  my  hand 
to  the  plow.  I  raised  more  corn  this  year  on  one- 
eighth  of  an  acre  than  I  have  seen  on  some  five  acres 
in  Alabama  and  Virginia."  The  food  was  often  of 
the  plainest,  a  dinner  not  infrequently  consisting  of 
buttermilk  and  baked  sweet  potatoes. 

In  183 1  Mrs.  Wilmer  removed  to  the  Seminary 
Hill,  and  opened  a  High  School  on  the  site  of  what 
is  now  the  residence  of  the  Principal  of  the  Episcopal 

17 


RICHARD  HOOKER  WILMER 

High  School.  She  employed  two  instructors,  both 
clergymen,  and  limited  the  number  of  pupils  to  eigh- 
teen. The  school  continued  for  three  years,  but 
Richard  remained  but  one  year.  At  the  end  of  the 
season  he  swung  himself  across  a  horse,  and  with  a 
negro  man,  George,  and  the  dogs,  rode  through  the 
country  to  Ohio,  where  he  located  and  sold  the  grant 
of  land  which  had  come  down  to  the  children  irom 
Major  Richard  Cox,  to  whom  it  had  been  a  direct 
grant  from  the  Continental  Congress.  It  was  the 
proceeds  from  this  timely  sale  which  enabled  Richard 
to  enter  Yale  College  the  next   Fall. 

W'ilmer  remained  at  Yale  four  years,  graduating 
in  1836,  at  the  age  of  twenty.  The  records  of  these 
four  years  are  meagre.  Dr.  Joseph  Packard  says 
that  when  he  came  to  the  Theological  Seminary  in 
1S36  he  came  "with  a  reputation  as  a  graduate  of 
Yale,"  but  he  does  not  tell  whether  he  was  a  specially 
distinguished  graduate  or  whether  the  mere  fact  that 
he  was  a  graduate  of  Yale  was  in  those  days  a  matter 
of  note  at  the  Seminary.  It  is  known,  however,  that 
he  stood  high  in  his  class,  and  that  he  made  a  reputa- 
tion for  himself  as  an  athlete,  where  he  established 
the  record  for  broad  jumping  up  to  that  time.  A 
stone  was  set  up  to  mark  his  record  jump,  and  it 
remained  for  many  years,  until  a  new  record  was 
made  that  destroyed  the  glory  of  the  old.  It  is  in- 
teresting to  know  that  among  his  contemporaries  at 
Yale,  at  one  time  or  another,  were  Cassius  M.  Clay, 
afterwards  Minister  to  Russia,  W.  M.  Evarts,  Secre- 
tary of  State.  Edwards  Pierrepont,  Minister  to  Eng- 
land, Samuel  J.  Tilden,  candidate  of  the  Democratic 

18 


EARLY  DAYS  AND  FIRST  PASTORATE 

Party  for  President  of  the  United  States,  and  Chief 
Justice  Waite. 

Returning  from  Yale  to  Virginia,  he  immediately 
entered   the   Theological    Seminary   and   began   his 
three  years  course  of  preparation  for  Holy  Orders. 
No  one  ever  heard  him  give  any  reason  for  determin- 
ing to  embrace  a  clergyman's  career.     It  did  not 
come    to    him    as    any    sudden    awakening.       His 
life   had   not   been    one   to   require   reformation    or 
to  produce  revulsion  of  feeling.     He  had  had  greater 
responsibilities  than  commonly  fall  to  youth  and  his 
character  had  been  formed  early  in  life.     His  father 
and  his  father's  father  and  many  generations  before 
them  in  the  new  world  and  in  England  had  furnished 
the  Church  with  distinguished  ministers,  and  Wil- 
mer   entered   upon   the   sacred   walk   of  life  as  the 
natural  and  regular  thing  for  him  to  do.     His  class 
in  the  Seminary  comprised  six  members, — James  A. 
Buck,William  H.  Kinckle,William  T.  Leavell,  Cleland 
K.  Nelson,  John  J.  Scott  and  Richard  H.  Wilmer. 
It    was    also    the    first    year    of    their    Professor    of 
Hebrew,  Joseph  Packard.    These  seven  men  formed 
a  compact  little  band,  whose  unity,  ability  and  lon- 
gevity has  been  one  of  the  Seminary  traditions.    The 
students  were  not  much  younger  than  the  instructor, 
and  he  was  only  twenty-four  years  of  age;  yet,  fol- 
lowing the  lead  of  Wilmer,  they  gave  their  Hebrew 
kabbi,   or   Master,   the   afifectionately  familiar  title, 
"Old  Rab,"  which  he  never  lost.     Fifty  years  after 
their  graduation,  all  but  one — William  H.  Kinckle — 
were  living  and  in  active  work.  Five  years  later,  when 
the  survivors  met  at  Rock  Creek  Church  to  break  the 

19 


RICHARD  HOOKER  WILMER 

Bread  of  Life  together  once  more  in  the  flesh,  only 
one  other  had  passed  away — Cleland  N.  Nelson. 

Wilmer  did  not  live  at  the  Seminary.  His  father's 
widow,  whom  he  always  regarded  as  if  she  were  his 
mother,  had  settled  at  Lebanon,  a  few  miles  from 
the  Seminary,  and  \\'ilmer  lived  with  her,  managing 
the  farm  and,  working  upon  it.  Dr.  Packard  often 
recalled  the  picture  of  the  farmer  student  riding  to 
his  lectures  on  theology  with  his  trousers  tucked  into 
his  boots.  His  studies  were  in  fact  interrupted  by  the 
exigencies  of  a  farmer's  life,  but  he  was  able,  not- 
withstanding, to  pass  through  the  difficult  three 
years'  course  and  graduate  without  making  an  ex- 
traordinary effort. 

Soon  after  graduating  he  associated  with  himself 
his  bosom  friend  Kinckle,  and  as  a  voluntary  course 
in  pastoral  theology  the  two  started  Sunday  after- 
noon services  at  Lebanon.  These  services  have  been 
maintained  ever  since,  and  there  is  to-day  a  comfort- 
able chapel,  with  Sunday  school  and  evening  services 
conducted  by  the  Seminary  students. 

Wilmer  was  made  Deacon  by  Bishop  Moore  on 
Easter  Day,  1839.  On  the  next  Easter  Day  the  same 
Bishop  advanced  him  to  the  priesthood.  Both  ordi- 
nations were  held  in  the  Bishop's  own  parish  church, 
the  Monumental,  Richmond.  At  his  ordination  to 
the  diaconate  a  large  congregation  filled  the  spacious 
building,  but  very  few  persons  came  to  the  Com- 
munion. Though  it  was  Easter  Day  the  communi- 
cants were  mostly  old  men  and  mature  women. 
There  were  a  few  girls,  but  not  one  young  man. 

After  his  ordination  as  Deacon,  he  returned  home 

20 


EARLY  DAYS  AND  FIRST  PASTORATE 

for  a  few  weeks,  and  while  there  preached  his  first 
sermon  in  the  Seminary  Chapel. 

He  was  in  the  very  flower  of  young  manhood. 
His  thick  brown  hair  grew  low  over  a  high,  massive 
forehead,  and  heavy  brown  eyebrows  overhung  his 
clear  blue  eyes.  The  eyes  had  a  way  of  flashing  with 
the  upward  glance  and  changing  with  his  changing 
thoughts — ])eaming  with  benevolence,  firing  with  in- 
dignation and  sparkling  with  humor.  He  had  a 
large  straight  nose  and  a  broad,  straight  mouth,  firm 
and,  even  when  in  repose,  looking  severe;  but  the  lips 
were  remarkably  mobile  and  he  smiled  readily  and 
laughed  often — laughed  at  times  "with  his  whole 
man,"  the  hearty  laugh  of  an  open-hearted  man,  who 
loves  to  live.  He  was  born  a  humorist,  and  could 
extract  from  life  a  degree  of  amusement  which  is 
denied  to  less  fortunate  beings  who  do  not  under- 
stand jokes.  His  sharp  intelligence  often  turned 
humor  into  wit,  and  he  blended  the  two  with  happy 
effect.  He  was  destined  from  the  beginning  of  his 
career  to  acquire  a  reputation  as  a  sayer  of  good 
things  which  passed  from  mouth  to  mouth  to  make 
people  laugh.  An  outdoor  life  and  much  physical 
employment  had  laid  the  foundation  of  extraordinary 
physical  strength,  and  the  congregation  at  the  semin- 
ary looked  upon  a  splendid  example  of  muscular 
Chri.stianity.  He  was  six  feet  tall  with  straight  limbs 
and  a  chest  so  deep  and  broad  that  it  gave  the  im- 
pression that  he  was  shorter  than  he  really  was. 
From  early  manhood  he  practiced  deep  breathing 
every  night  and  his  chest  had  great  expansive  power. 
He  read  the  service  in  a  voice  which  captivated  his 


21 


RICHARD  HOOKER  WILMER 

hearers  with  its  mellowness,  and  richness,  and  with- 
out the  slightest  artificial  efifect  the  elocution  was 
simple  and  perfect.  When  he  preached  they  became 
aware  that  while  the  voice  was  well  modulated  it 
had  a  great  range  and  was  capable  of  trumpet  tones 
which  could  carry  a  great  distance.  The  young 
minister  was  a  marked  personality,  and  he  gave  the 
impression  of  fearlessness,  determination  and  great 
strength.  It  was  apparent  from  the  first  that  such  a 
man,  having  also  a  lofty  character  and  rare  intel- 
lectual endowments,  would  play  no  ordinary  part  in 
the  destinies  of  the  Church.  The  sermon  which  he 
preached  on  this  occasion  of  his  first  preaching  as  a 
priest  was  strong  and  attractive,  but  being  the  dis- 
course of  a  young  man  of  exhuberant  fancy  it  was 
pitched  high  and  contained  specimens  of  nearly  every 
rhetorical  figure.  The  profuse  ornamentation  dis- 
pleased his  ancient  instructor.  Dr.  Keith,  and  he 
criticised  him  sharply.  The  young  preacher  took  his 
scolding  good-naturedly,  only  saying,  when  Dr. 
Keith  had  concluded.  "You  know  that  when  you 
turn  a  young  colt  out.  he  wants  to  run  and  kick  up 
his  heels.    When  he  gets  older  he  gets  more  steady.'' 

Mr.  Wilmer's  first  charge  was  St.  Paul's,  Gooch- 
land County,  and  St.  John's,  Fluvanna  County.  In 
his  Fluvanna  work  he  succeeded  his  cousin,  Joseph 
Pere  Bell  Wilmer,  and  was  in  turn  succeeded  by  his 
cousin,  who  returned  to  this  field  in   1844. 

His  parishioners  lived  for  fifty  miles  along  the 
James  River.  The  families  were  hereditary  Church 
families,  but  there  was  not  one  male  communicant  in 
the  whole  flock.     Indeed,  a  male  communicant  was 

00 


EARLY  DAYS  AND  FIRST  PASTORATE 

not  then  to  be  found  along  the  river  front  from 
Lynchburg  to  Richmond,  a  distance  of  one  hundred 
and  fifty  miles.  Religion  had  made  some  advances 
in  other  portions  of  Virginia,  but  it  had  little  foot- 
hold in  this  region.  The  men,  with  all  the  great  but 
unspiritual  virility  of  Esau,  deemed  it  the  unmanliest 
thing  a  man  could  do  to  profess  and  call  himself  a 
Christian.  Church-going  was  for  women  and  par- 
sons. It  is  related  that  one  youth,  who  had  manifest- 
ed some  religious  susceptibility,  was  lured  to  a 
drinking  party,  and  after  he  had  become  imbued 
with  the  spirit  of  the  occasion  had,  to  hold  his  own 
with  the  company,  related  a  jest  whose  point  was 
profanity;  whereupon  a  prominent  and  elderly  man, 
whose  commendation  was  highly  esteemed  in  that 
community,  leaned  over  and  slapped  him  on  the  back 
and  congratulated  him  "on  his  emancipation."  It 
took  the  youth  many  years  to  overcome  the  blighting 
influence  of  that  commendation. 

At  one  of  these  drinking  parties  one  man  was 
seized  with  an  idea,  and  most  unexpectedly  to  himself 
and  others,  said:  "Boys,  it's  a  shame  the  way  we 
neglect  our  wives.  Here  we  are  having  a  good  time, 
and  they  never  have  anything  to  interest  and  amuse 
them.  Let's  build  them  a  church."  Strange  to  say, 
the  proposition  met  with  great  favor,  and  then  and 
there  the  money  was  subscribed  for  a  commodious 
church  building,  which  was  erected  shortly  after- 
w^ards.  A  few^  months  later,  in  May,  1839,  the  young 
minister  reported  to  the  Convention,  in  words  that 
drew  a  distinction  between  parish  interest  and  per- 
sonal religion:    "I  take  this  opportunity  to  testify  to 

23 


RICHARD  HOOKER  WILMER 

the  deep  interest  which  the  members  of  this  congre- 
gation are  taking  in  the  prosperity  of  the  church  and, 
I  would  fain  hope,  in  the  subject  of  religion.  A  few 
gentlemen,  under  circumstances  seemingly  the  most 
inauspicious,  commenced  and  have  completed  the 
erection  of  a  new  church.  The  building  will  be 
dedicated  to  the  worship  of  Almighty  God  at  some 
time  in  the  ensuing  month."  Before  Mr.  \\'ilmer 
surrendered  the  charge  of  this  church  thus  un- 
religiously  erected  every  man,  save  one,  of  that 
drinking  party  kneeled  at  the  chancel  rail  and  con- 
firmed the  vows  of  his  long  dishonored  Baptism. 

The  way  in  which  one  of  these  men  was  caught  is 
amusing:  Mr.  Wilmer  was  visiting  around  among 
his  widely  scattered  parishioners,  and  in  the  course 
of  his  progress  he  was  spending  a  few  days  at  this 
gentleman's  home.  The  good  wife,  anxious  for  the 
entertainment  of  her  guest,  insisted  that  her  husband 
should  carry  the  young  minister  out  partridge  shoot- 
ing the  day  after  his  arrival.  As  so  many  men  have 
done  under  similar  circumstances,  the  husband  de- 
murred, saying  that  she  could  have  the  preacher  in 
the  house  if  she  wanted  to,  but  that  he  didn't  want  his 
sport  spoiled  "by  having  a  parson  tagging  along  be- 
hind him."  The  wife  insisted,  and.  as  men  generally 
do  under  similar  circumstances,  the  husband  yielded, 
but  grumbled.  Desiring  to  make  the  best  of  a  bad 
situation  the  host  carefully  explained  the  method  of 
partridge  shooting  to  his  guest,  and  ]\Tr.  Wilmer  re- 
ceived his  instructions  with  becoming  meekness. 
Then  the  two  rode  away  to  their  sport.  Just  as  they 
were  dismounting,  and  while  Wilmer  still  had  one 

24 


EARLY  DAYS  AND  FIRST  PASTORATE 

foot  in  the  stirrup,  a  covey  of  partridges  rose.  Quick 
as  a  flash  Wihner,  with  but  one  foot  on  the  ground, 
emptied  both  barrels  of  his  gun  in  rapid  succession, 
and  two  birds  fell  to  the  ground.  The  planter  swore 
a  mighty  oath  of  surprise  and  delight,  apologized  for 
it  hastily,  and  then  and  there  pledged  himself  to 
constant  attendance  on  public  worship.  "For,"  said 
he,  "a  parson  that  can  do  that  well  in  something  thai 
is  not  in  his  line  must  certainly  know  his  own  business 
still  better,  and  be  able  to  say  something  worth  hear- 
ing." 

Unbelief  was  more  intolerant  and  aggressive  then 
than  it  is  now,  when  it  is  so  often  on  the  defensive, 
and  the  young  minister  had  had  so  far  no  experience 
in  allowing  for  the  personal  equation,  which  must 
enter  into  calculation  with  every  apologist  who  con- 
tends wisely.  His  theology  was  more  theoretical  than 
practical,  but  he  had  red  blood,  and  the  practical 
came  rapidly. 

It  had  to  come  rapidly.  When  he  took  charge  cf 
the  Goochland  field  he  heard  frequent  significant 
references  to  a  planter,  who  may  be  called  Mr.  Smith, 
and  who  was  in  the  habit  of  encountering  young 
divines  and  getting  the  better  of  them  in  his  rough- 
and-tumble  way.  He  chose  his  own  ground  and  his 
own  time  (generally  grog  time),  and  being  quite 
familiar  with  Tom  Paine — the  Ingersoll  of  his  day — 
he  assaulted  the  young  ministers  with  such  unexpect- 
ed foulness  of  speech  as  generally  to  rout  them  at  the 
first  charge.  Mr.  Wilmer  was  not  beardless;  for 
physical  reasons  he  wore  a  heavy  beard;  but  he  was  a 
stripling  of  only  twenty-three,  and  not  having  proved 

25 


RICHARD  HOOKER  WILMER 

his  armor  he  had  a  natural  and  wholesome  fear  of 
meeting  this  much  dreaded  antagonist,  and  dodged 
him  successfully  for  some  months. 

It  chanced,  however,  that  Air.  Smith's  wife  was 
taken  ill  suddenly  and  expressed  a  desire  to  see  a 
minister.  As  Mr.  Wilmer  was  the  nearest  he  was 
(|uickly  summoned  and  as  quickly  came.  Pausing 
only  a  moment  in  the  parlor,  where  he  found  Mr. 
Smith  surrounded  by  a  company  of  his  boon  com- 
panions, he  was  ushered  into  the  room  of  the  sick 
wife.  When  he  had  discharged  his  ministerial  duties 
he  re-entered  the  parlor. 

He  was  met  by  the  husband  with  the  salutation, 
"Well.  Mr.  Wilmer,  I  am  glad  to  meet  you.  1 
thought  1  would  never  have  a  chance  of  chatting  with 
you.     I  am  very  fond  of  talking  with  the  clergy." 

His  friends  cut  their  eyes  at  each  other,  but  in- 
nocent as  to  the  hidden  meaning  of  the  remark 
Mr.  Wilmer  made  a  suitable  response,  and  took  his 
seat.  He  soon  found  himself  in  conversation  with 
his  host,  who  expressed  a  desire  to  "talk  aboul  the 
Bible."  He  tried  by  every  possible  method  to  slave 
off  such  conversation,  for  he  was  well  aware  that  a 
thousand  questions  might  be  asked  him  which  he 
could  not  well  answer,  and  'he  greatly  feared  that 
the  cause  of  truth,  and  incidentally  his  own  repu- 
tation, might  suffer  from  his  inexperience.  But 
Mr.  Smith  would  not  be  shaken  off,  and  the  young 
parson  gathered  himself  together. 

"I  should  like  to  ask  you  some  questions  that  I 
have  often  asked  without  getting  any  satisfaction," 
said  Mr.  Smith. 

^6 


EARLY  DAYS  AND  FIRST  PASTORATE 

"I  think  it  very  likely  that  you  can  ask  questions 
without  getting  any  satisfaction,"  returned  Mr. 
Wilmer.  "Even  a  fool  can  ask  questions  that  a  wise 
man  cannot  answer." 

"Well,  that's  so,"  granted  Mr.  Smith.  "But  there 
is  one  question  that  I  would  like  to  ask  you.  I  have 
asked  it  often,  and  if  you  can  answer  it  you'll  do 
what  I  have  never  heard  done,  and  I  will  let  you 
ofY." 

"I  don't  know  that  I  am  specially  anxious  to  be 
let  off,"  boldly  responded  the  parson,  departing  from 
the  rigid  truth;  "but  I  will  promise  this:  If  your 
question  is  a  proper  one.  such  as  I  should  and  can 
answer.  I  will  do  my  best." 

"Well,  that's  fair  enough.  Now  please  tell  me 
why  Michael  and  the  Devil  had  a  dispute  about  the 
body  of  Moses?" 

Mr.  Wilmer  had  never  given  special  attention  to 
the  matter.  He  naturally  hesitated.  The  host  put 
on  very  much  of  the  sort  of  smile  that  the  Devil 
might  have  worn — if  the  Devil  smiles.  The  friends 
drew  their  chairs  closer  to  share  the  triumph  of  their 
belt-wearing  champion.  The  pause  became  an  awk- 
ward one  for  the  perplexed  divine.  Then  a  sudden 
thought  came  into  his  mind,  ministered  by  some  good 
angel,  he  felt  assured,  for  he  had  the  real  solution  of 
the  question,  though  commentators  had  not  suggest- 
ed it;  and  he  said : 

"Well,  Mr.  Smith,  I  really  think  you  should  not 
have  raised  that  particular  question." 

"Why  so?     Isn't  it  in  the  Bible?" 

"Yes,  it  is;  but  you  have  no  concern  in  it." 

27 


RICHARD  HOOKER  WILMER 

"Why  not?" 

''Because,  sir,  there  wiU  never  be  any  dispute 
raised  over  your  body.  Michael  will  yield  without 
dispute." 

There  was  dead  silence,  and  well  might  there  be. 
There  was  no  jest  in  the  speaker's  tone,  and  his  face 
was  sternness  itself. 

The  host  turned  deadly  pale.  His  friends  saw  that 
he  was  hard  hit.  but  they  could  say  nothing.  At  last. 
by  a  great  effort  he  resumed  his  constitutional 
gayety.for  he  was  really  a  good-natured  man.  "Well." 
he  exclaimed,  "that's  the  best  thing  I  ever  heard  in 
my  life,  I  swear."  He  asked  the  parson  no  more 
questions,  but  began  to  come  to  church  regularly 
and  gave  respectful  attention  to  the  services  and  the 
preaching. 

His  life,  however,  never  changed  for  the  better. 
Some  years  later  when  Mr.  Wilmer  had  removed  to 
another  field  Mr.  Smith  sent  him  word  that  he  had 
found  a  good  walnut  log  upon  his  plantation,  and  had 
had  it  sawed  up  and  made  into  a  coflin  just  to  fit  him- 
self; and  that  if  he  could  engage  Mr.  Wilmer  to  come 
and  preach  his  funeral  he  "would  finish  the  job."  Mr. 
Wilmer  had  never  changed  his  mind  about  the  man; 
he  had  always  regarded  him  as  "a  foul  blot,  a  shame, 
and  a  corruption;"  and  he  answered:  "I  will  preach 
your  funeral  with  the  greatest  pleasure !" 

The  rule  upon  which  he  acted  in  his  dealings  with 
this  man  was  a  rule  which  he  observed  through  life : 
"Some  men."  he  said,  "are  to  be  treated  with  gentle- 
ness, courtesy,  and  the  like.  But  when  a  man  rushes 
at  you  like  a  Bull  of  Bashan.  with  horns  and  hoofs, 

28 


EARLY  DAYS  AND  FIRST  PASTORATE 

he  needs  a  blow  between  the  eyes.  You  cannot  stop 
to  argue  the  matter  any  more  than  when  you  have 
upset  a  bee-hive." 

On  October  6,  1840,  being  now  twenty-four  years 
old,  Wilmer  married  Margaret  Brown  at  her  father's 
estate,  "Belmont,"  Nelson  County,  Virginia.  She 
was  younger  than  her  husband  by  five  years,  a  girl  of 
exquisite  beauty  with  fair  complexion,  blue  eyes  and 
golden  hair.  She  had  been  well  educated  at  home 
and  came  of  old  and  honored  Virginia  stock  on  the 
side  of  her  mother  who  was  Lucy  Shands  Rives,  the 
daughter  of  Robert  Rives  and  Margaret  Jordon 
Cabell.  William  Cal)ell  Rives,  Senator,  Minister  to 
France  and  the  historian  of  James  Madison,  was  thus 
Mrs.  Wilmer's  uncle.  Her  father,  Alexander  Brown, 
was  born  in  Perth,  Scotland,  and  came  to  this  country 
in  181 1  with  his  uncle,  the  Reverend  James  Hender- 
son of  Williamsburg.  Margaret  Brown  accompanied 
Wilmer  through  his  long  life-journey  and  survived 
him.  Her  gentle  and  retiring  nature  was  an  offset  to 
his  masterfulness,  and  they  were  a  well  assorted  pair. 
Much  of  the  success  of  his  career  was  due  to  her 
quiet  helpfulness  and  gentle  care.  She  had  herself 
rich  mental  endowments,  and  participated  in  her 
husband's  mental  life.  She  read  aloud  to  him  a  por- 
tion of  each  day,  and  the  reading  included  not  only 
the  lighter  literature  of  the  day  but  the  classics  and 
erudite  works  on  theology  and  philosophy.  She 
helped  him  also  in  his  parish  duties  and  during  the 
earlier  years  of  their  married  life,  although  her  health 
was  then  not  robust,  she  often  accompanied  him  in 
his  long  rides  on  ministerial  affairs,  sometimes  riding 

29 


RICHARD  HOOKER  WILMER 

beside  him  on  another  horse,  ftnd  sometimes  on  the 
pilHon  behind  him  as  the  custom  was  in  those  days. 
One  of  her  contemporaries  has  thus  described  her : 

"BishoiJ  Wihner,  richly  dowered  as  he  was  by 
nature,  and  training — orator,  wit,  theologian — a  very 
prince  of  the  Church — was  in  nothing  more  fortunate 
than  in  his  early  marriage  with  Margaret  Brown,  the 
youngest  daughter  of  Gen.  Alexander  Brown  and 
Lucy  Shands  Rives. 

"Gen.  Brown,  a  Scottish  gentleman  who  settled  in 
Nelson  County,  \'a.,  in  the  early  years  of  the  nine- 
teenth ccntiu-y  was  a  man  of  the  highest  character, 
of  rare  personal  beauty  and  charm,  while  his  wife, 
daughter  of  Robert  Rives  of  Oak  'Ridge  and  Mar- 
garet Cabell,  came  of  a  family  that  gave  much  talent 
t(»  the  State  and  County  and  was  by  blood  or  mar- 
riage connected  with  the  many  families  whose  county 
scats  looked  out  upon  the  Upper  James  or  dotted  the 
iidand  foot-hills  of  the  beautiful  Piedmont  section. 
To  call  over  the  names  of  even  a  few  of  the  families 
that  made  up  this  wealthy,  cultured  neighborhood — 
the  Cabells.  Rives.  Pollards,  Daniels,  etc. — is  to  call 
the  roll  of  the  chief  actors  in  Virginia  history. 

"Of  such  lineage,  reared  and  refined  influences, 
healthy  environment  and  noble  traditions,  the  future 
wife  of  Bishop  Wilmer  spent  the  first  eighteen  years 
of  her  life  up  to  the  time  of  her  marriage.  Those  who 
remember  her  as  a  bride  recall  her  blonde  beauty 
and  great  personal  charm.  Those  of  us  who  only  re- 
member her  in  her  later  years  love  best  to  think  of 
the  low.  musical  voice,  the  sweet  gentle  nature,  the 
warm,  sympathetic  heart,  the  sense  of  innate  refine- 

30 


EARLY  DAYS  AND  FIRST  PASTORATE 

ment  which  threw  about  her  an  atmosphere  unique 
in  its  tender  grace,  which  hngered  with  her  to  the 
end." 

The  spirit  of  self-help,  which  had  from  the  begin- 
ning been  a  prominent  characteristic  in  the  young 
man,  showed  itself  in  the  manner  in  which  he  now 
dealt  with  the  question  of  support.  Though  the  con- 
gregation lived  in  luxury  the  salary  was  small,  and 
was  eked  out  by  gifts  in  produce.  If  the  salary  was 
not  forthcoming  he  would  curtail  his  family  ex- 
penses, and  use  up  the  small  surplus  that  he  had 
managed  to  lay  aside  for  just  such  occasions,  but  he 
would  not,  under  any  pressure,  contract  a  debt.  If 
the  produce  did  not  come  on  time  he  never  opened 
his  mouth.  If  his  wood  supply  ran  short  and  the 
need  was  not  promptly  supplied  and  remedied,  he 
would  hitch  up  his  own  team  and  go  out  into  the 
woods  after  it,  and  he  would  act  as  his  own  teamster 
when  his  supplies  came  by  canal  from  Richmond. 
His  people  did  not  relish  seeing  their  minister  doing 
the  work  that  ordinarily  only  slaves  and  poor  w'hites 
did,  but  they  had  to  see  it  unless  they  showed  a  little 
interest  in  fulfilling  their  own  obligations.  What  his 
congregation  did  for  him  they  did  of  their  own  free- 
will and  pleasure,  and  from  first  to  last,  in  the  sixty- 
one  years  of  his  ministry,  he  never  once  asked  for  his 
salary. 

This  ability  to  look  out  for  himself,  and  so  to  look 
out  for  others,  enabled  him  to  teach  a  lesson  and, 
occasionally,  to  drop  some  very  broad  hints.  Resid- 
ing in  the  neighborhood  were  several  maiden  ladies, 
sisters,  in  very  reduced  circumstances.     They  were 

31 


RICHARD  HOOKER  WILMER 

industrious,  and  performed  all  their  own  domestic 
duties,  but  there  was  no  man  on  the  place  to  plow 
their  little  crop  of  corn.  Close  by  lived  a  young 
Presbyterian  minister,  popular,  promising,  and  un- 
married. He  needed  exercise,  and  in  order  to  supply 
this  need  the  ladies  of  his  congregation  had  provided 
for  him  a  Hower  garden.  The  conditions,  as  they 
stood,  seemed  to  the  Episcopal  minister  incommen- 
surable; the  ladies,  who  would  plow,  couldn't,  and 
the  man,  who  could  plow,  didn't.  So  he  determined 
to  rectify  things.  He  had  never  given  himself  over 
to  llower-culture,  but  he  had  had  intimate  associa- 
tion with  plow  handles.  He  hitched  up  his  horse, 
and  went  over  and  plowed  the  corn  of  the  worthy 
maiden  ladies,  and  then  sent  word  to  the  Presby- 
terian minister  to  let  those  flowers  alone  long  enough 
to  hoc  out  the  corn  that  he  himself  had  plowed. 

Another  side  of  his  ministry  at  this  time  is  dis- 
closed in  the  following  incident,  which  is  related  in 
his  own  words: 

"One  day  in  1840  I  received  a  letter  from  a  vener- 
able old  lady  living  at  Ca  Ira,  the  county  seat  of 
Cumberland  County.  It  was  a  very  plaintive  letter, 
full  of  tears.  She  wrote  of  a  dilapidated  church 
building,  no  ministerial  services,  and  a  scattered  and 
wandering  ilock;  and  implored  me  to  come  and  give 
them  some  help. 

"It  was  impossible  to  resist  such  an  appeal.  A 
similar  appeal,  she  wrote  me,  had  been  made  to  a 
dearly  loved  classmate  of  mine,  who  lived  in  Char- 
lotte County — a  man  of  peculiar  earnestness  and  de- 
voutness— the  Rev.  William  H.  Kinckle.     Our  souls 

32 


EARLY  DAYS  AND  FIRST  PASTORATE 

were  in  perfect  unison,  for  we  had  been  classmates 
three  years  together,  and  our  souls  were  knit  to- 
gether as  those  of  Jonathan  and  David.  We  con- 
ferred together,  and  arranged  to  meet  on  a  Friday 
morning  for  a  Mission. 

"We  met  accordingly  in  a  wretched  and  neglected 
building,  one  in  which  cattle  had  often  found  a  rest- 
ing  place.  At  the  first  service  we  both  felt  that  we 
were  upon  holy  ground.  None  of  the  accessories  of 
a  reverential  worship  were  at  hand  to  aid  us  in  our 
devotions.  The  church  building  was  in  a  ruinous 
condition  and  the  people  unused  to  church  services; 
they  had  been  without  a  pastor  for  many  years. 
Yet,  notwithstanding  the  absence  of  everything  vis- 
ible to  excite  reverence  there  was  an  influence 
manifest  to  the  inner  sense  which  impressed  us  with 
unwonted  solemnity  amounting  to  awe,  as  if  in  the 
presence  of  Divine  Majesty.  We  both  felt  this  and 
earnestly  communed  together  concerning  it.  Un- 
consciously we  were  standing  on  the  border  of  the 
greatest  of  spiritualities — yea,  of  all  realities — the 
manifestation  of  the  Divine  Spirit's  work  of  power. 
As  the  services  progressed  from  day  to  day  this 
impression  deepened.  The  hearts  of  the  people  were 
moved  within  them.  We  worshipped  with  reverence 
and  Godly  fear. 

"The  interest  of  the  congregation  deepened  with 
every  service.  After  service  on  Saturday  afternoon, 
— we  had  no  night  service,  because  the  village  in 
which  the  church  stood  was  small,  and  the  congre- 
gation was  mostly  from  the  country — the  only  sur- 
viving male  member  of  the  Httle  church  came  to  us, 

33 


RICHARD  HOOKER  WILMER 

and  entreated  us  to  hold  service  again  that  night, 
saying  that  there  was  a  deep  interest  existing  among 
the  people,  and  that  they  would  try  to  accom- 
modate themselves  in  the  village  that  night,  if  we 
would  hold  service.  W'c  were  only  too  glad  to  hold 
the  service,  and  the  solemnity  of  eternity  pervaded 
the  worship  that  night — a  night  never  to  be  forgotten 
by  him  who  writes  these  lines. 

"Next  morning.  Sunday,  a  vast  congregation  filled 
the  church,  crowded  the  aisles,  the  doors  and  the 
windows.  My  good  brother  Kinckle,  'read  the  ser- 
vice' as  the  phrase  is.  Ah !  he  prayed  the  service, 
and  when  he  gave  utterance  to  the  suffrage  in  the 
Litany — *0  God,  the  Holy  Ghost,  proceeding  from 
the  Father  and  the  Son,  have  mercy  upon  us,  miser- 
able sinners' — he  sobbed  audibly,  the  people  joining 
with  him ;  and  we  sobbed  through  the  Litany — the 
first  time  1  had  ever  heard  that  Litany  prayed  as  we, 
miserable  sinners,  have  need  to  pray  it. 

"It  fell  to  my  lot  to  follow  the  prayers  with  a  ser- 
mon. I  spoke  from  the  words — 'How  long  halt  ye 
between  two  opinions?  If  the  Lord  be  God  follow 
him;  if  Baal,  follow  him.'  I  write  that  I  spoke,  but  I 
felt  that  I  was  a  mere  mouth-piece,  through  which  a 
mightier  power  than  mine  was  demonstrating  the 
truth — the  'demonstration  of  the  Spirit  and  power,' 
as  I  have  since  learned — a  power  never  felt  before  or 
since  which,  sharper  than  any  two-edged  sword, 
pierced  the  hearts  of  the  people.  In  one  word,  if  I 
know  aught  of  revealed  truth,  as  exemplified  in  all 
ages,  it  was  the  Pentecostal  power — that  by  which 
St.  Paul  subdued  the  hearts  of  the  Corinthians — the 

34 


EARLY  DAYS  AND  FIRST  PASTORATE 

preaching  of  Christ  crucified,  with  demonstration  of 
the  Spirit  and  of  power. 

"Every  word  that  I  uttered  seemed  to  fall  upon 
the  hearts  of  the  people  as  palpably  as  the  hammer 
falls  upon  the  anvil.  For  the  first  time  in  my  life — 
although  I  had  been  through  a  three  years'  course  at 
the  Seminary, — I  understood  what  St.  Paul  meant 
when  he  wrote  to  the  Corinthians:  'My  speech  and 
my  preaching  was  not  with  enticing  words  of  man's 
wisdom,  but  in  demonstration  of  the  Spirit  and  of 
power.'  That  ambassador  of  Christ  who  does  not 
know  of  this  power  has  mistaken  his  calling  and  is  as 
one  that  beateth  the  air. 

"My  brother  and  I  were  obliged  to  remain  for 
days,  going  from  house  to  house,  holding  services 
in  private  dwellings  for  the  benefit  of  the  various 
neighbors,  answering  that  question  most  cheering 
to  every  minister  of  Christ — 'What  shall  I  do  to  be 
saved?'  I  hardly  ever  met  a  person  who  did  not 
seem  to  have  been  deeply  impressed  by  the  ser- 
vices. 

"My  last  visit  in  the  neighborhood  was  to  the 
dear  old  lady  wdiose  letter  had  brought  us  together. 
The  memory  of  that  visit  is  as  if  it  had  been  yester- 
day. She  had  not  been  at  the  services.  Age  and  in- 
firmity had  kept  her  at  home.  As  I  drew  near  her 
cottage  I  saw  she  was  bending  over  a  large  book 
spread  upon  her  lap.  Because  of  her  deafness  she 
was  not  aware  of  my  approach.  I  stood  some  time 
gazing  upon  that  beautiful  picture.  What  is  there 
in  nature  or  art  that  can  compare  with  it?  She  was 
near  her  own  sunset,  and  the  rays  of  the  sun  declin- 

35 


RICHARD  HOOKER  WILMER 

ing  westward  glinted  on  her  white  locks  and  irradiat- 
ed her  whole  person.  I  saw  that  her  eyes  rested 
upon  the  Prayer  Book,  the  very  cream  from  the  milk 
of  the  Word.  Tears  of  grateful  joy  trickled  down 
upon  her  glasses  and  then  upon  the  book  before 
her.  I  see  it  all  now  as  I  write.  At  last  I  touched 
her  shoulder  to  make  known  my  presence.  Unable 
from  emotion  to  utter  a  word^  she  motioned  me  to 
a  settee  by  her  side.  After  a  silence  of  some  time  she 
said:  'My  son,  I  have  something  to  tell  you  that 
you  ought  to  know.  Some  time  ago  I  had  been 
dwelling  long  and  anxiously  upon  the  state  of  our 
little  church.  I  called  my  daughter  into  counsel.' 
(Her  widowed  daughter  was  of  kindred  spirit  with 
her  mother.)  'I  told  her  I  had  been  much  impressed 
by  one  of  the  Saviour's  promises,  which  I  had  met 
with  in  my  day's  reading — "If  two  of  you  shall  agree 
on  earth  as  touching  anything  that  they  shall  ask,  it 
?hall  be  done  for  you  of  my  Father  which  is  in 
heaven."  Now,  daughter,  let  us  two  agree  together 
and  make  it  our  daily  prayer  that  our  Father  may 
send  a  blessing  upon  our  church  and  raise  it  from  the 
dust.  We  then  agreed,  and  many  and  fervent  were 
the  prayers  that  went  up  to  heaven  directly  from  our 
hearts.  We  continued  this  for  some  time,  when  one 
day  my  daughter  said  to  mc  'Mother,  this  is  all 
right,  but  we  must  do  more  than  pray.  God  works 
through  his  ministry.  His  way  is  in  the  sanctuary. 
Let  us  call  together  some  of  our  ministers,  and  thus 
render  effectual  our  prayers.'  This  led  to  the  letter 
I  wrote  you,  and  Mr.  Kinckle  read  to  the' — and  here 
she  fairly  broke  down  at  the  remembrance  of  our 

36 


EARLY  DAYS  AND  FIRST  PASTORATE 

services  just  closed.  'Oh,  how  true  and  faithful  has 
been  our  Father  in  giving  His  Holy  Spirit  to  them 
that  ask  Him.' 

"There  was  a  large  class  for  Confirmation  soon 
after.  They  have  all  passed  into  Paradise.  I  knew  of 
them  for  more  than  a  half  century,  and  I  never  heard 
of  one  who  had  back-slidden  from  His  holy  calling. 
The  reason  was  that  'the  Lord,'  not  I,  but  only 
through  me,  'had  added  to  the  Church  such  as  should 
be  saved.'  Ah,  if  it  were  always  so  now,  there  would 
not  be  such  a  lax  membership  of  'lovers  of  pleasure 
more  than  lovers  of  God.'  " 

A  similar  but  even  larger  experience  came  in  1842. 
Mr.  W'ilmer  was  preparing  to  go  to  the  Diocesan 
Convention,  which  met  that  year  in  Staunton,  when 
he  received  a  letter  from  the  Rev.  Dr.  Norwood, 
rector  of  the  Monumental  Church,  Richmond,  en- 
treating him  to  forego  his  attendance  at  Conven- 
tion, and  come  to  the  writer's  assistance.  "There  is 
a  degree  of  religious  interest  in  Richmond  that  is 
marvelous,"  wrote  Dr.  Norwood.  "My  people  are 
begging  me  to  open  the  church  and  hold  daily  ser- 
vice. Come  and  help  me.  Dr.  Johns  promises  to 
come.  All  the  churches  in  the  city  are  open  daily, 
and  there  is  promise  of  a  rich  harvest." 

Acceding  to  the  earnest  request,  Mr.  Wilmer 
went  to  Richmond  and  preached  daily  for  several 
weeks.  The  interest  was  so  intense  that  business 
was  largely  forgotten,  and  three  services  a  day  were 
called  for  and  attended.  To  illustrate  the  extent  and 
intensity  of  feeling:  Mr.  Wilmer  went  into  a  store 
on   Main   Street   for  some  little   purchase,   and  the 

17 


RICHARD  HOOKER  WILMER 

proprietor,  instead  of  asking  what  he  wanted,  said, 
"Can  you  give  me  a  few  minutes  in  my  ofificc?"  The 
old  Pentecostal  question  was  in  the  man's  heart — 
"Tell  me  what  I  must  do  to  be  saved?"  !More  than 
once,  while  Mr.  Wilmer  was  walking  the  street  an 
entire  stranger,  recognizing  him  as  "the  preacher 
at  Monumental,"  would  lock  arms  with  him  and  say, 
"Can  you  take  a  little  walk  with  me?"  And  then,  in 
varied  forms,  would  follow  the  same  old  cpiestion, 
"What  must  I  do  to  be  saved?"  "This  was  nothing 
of  man's  doing,"  said  the  preacher  retrospectively, 
many  years  after.  "The  breathing  of  the  Holy 
Spirit — that  precious  breath  from  Heaven — brought 
all  things  bright  and  beautiful  to  birth,  as  does  the 
Spring-tide.    Thousands  were  added  to  the  Lord." 

This  episode  was  destined  to  change  the  entire 
course  of  the  young  preacher's  life.  Among  the  con- 
gregation that  flocked  daily  to  Monumental  was  an- 
other young  man,  a  Scotchman,  named  John  Stewart. 
A  Presbyterian  by  inheritance  he  had  become  wearied 
beyond  endurance  with  the  acrimonious  disputes 
then  splitting  American  Presbyterianism  in  twain, 
and  he  was  seeking  a  church  home.  He  was  pro- 
foundly impressed  with  Mr.  Wilmer's  manner  of 
preaching  and  with  the  substance  of  his  sermons, 
and  he  presented  himself  for  Confirmation  soon  af- 
terwards. Strong  personal  friendship  sprang  up  be- 
tween the  men,  and,  as  will  be  shown,  the  outcome 
was  Mr.  Wilmer's  election  as  Bishop  of  Alabama. 

Tt  was  during  these  years  in  Goochland  that  Wil- 
mer came  to  know  so  well  Nicholas  Hamner  Cobbs, 
afterwards  first  Bishop  of  Alabama.    As  a  boy  he  had 

38 


EARLY  DAYS  AND  FIRST  PASTORATE 

known  him  when  he  made  his  occasional  visits  to  Dr. 
Wihner  at  Alexandria  and   Williamsburg,   but   the 
lad  of  ten  could  not  have  made  a  lasting  impression 
on  the  mature  clergyman.     When,  however,  the  ris- 
ing young  clergyman  was  made  known  to  Mr.  Cobbs 
as  the  son  of  his  old  friend  Wilmer  he  freely  extended 
to  him  the  love  that  he  had  felt  for  his  father.     It 
was  the  frequent  practice  of  the  Virginia  clergy  of 
that  day  to  hold  what  were  called  ''Associations" — 
forerunners  of  our  present-day  "Missions."     They 
would  go  forth  by  twos,  and  preach  a  week  or  ten 
days  at  one  place.     Mr.  Cobbs  often  invited  young 
Wilmer  to  join  him  at  an  Association,  and  thus  came 
to  esteem  him  for  himself  even  more  than  for  his 
paternity.     The  two  were  almost  antipodal  in  per- 
sonal   characteristics,    but    underneath    the    super- 
ficial differences  they  gripped  each  other  in  oneness 
of  spiritual  experience,  of  ecclesiastical  trend,  and  of 
theological  wholeness.    A  strong  attachment  grew  up 
between  them,  and  to  the  fondness  of  the  elder  for  the 
younger  did  Mr.  Wilmer  attribute  the  fact  that  he 
was  called  to  succeed  his  friend  in  every  charge  that 
Mr.   Cobbs     left — Bedford,   Petersburg,   Cincinnati, 
and  Alabama;  though  he  accepted  the  calls  to  only 
Bedford  and  Alabama. 

Mr.  Wilmer  remained  in  this  field  three  years  after 
he  was  ordained  priest,  declining  a  number  of  calls 
to  important  parishes  in  the  Diocese,  and  he  added 
to  the  number  of  declinations  in  1843  when  his 
friend  Cobbs  went  to  Cincinnati  and  wanted  him  to 
go  to  Petersburg, 


CHAPTER  III 

WILMINGTON    AND    BERRYVILLE 

Altliongh  Mr.  W'ilmcr  declined  to  go  to  St.  Paul's, 
Cincinnati,  he  accepted  the  call  to  the  rectorship  of 
St.  James's  Church.  Wilmington,  North  Carolina, 
which  came  to  him  the  same  year.  Only  conjecture 
is  possible  as  to  the  forces  that  could  make  him  either 
leave  his  native  state,  or  undertake  a  work  so  alien  to 
his  tastes.  His  rectorship  of  the  parish  of  St.  James 
lasted  less  than  one  year,  and  was  not  productive  of 
any  special  results.  The  congregation  needed  such 
incessant  visiting  that  little  time  was  left  for  sermonic 
work,  and  it  required  so  much  table-serving  as  to 
prevent  thoroughness  of  spiritual  ministration. 

He  was  not  suited  to  such  work,  and  the  climate 
was  not  suited  either  to  himself  or  to  his  family. 
The  illness  of  one  member  of  the  family  followed  so 
close  upon  that  of  another  throughout  the  year  that 
parish  work  was  rendered  doubly  difficult,  and  even 
the  coming  of  his  brother  George  to  assist  in  the 
time  of  distress,  generous  though  it  was,  rendered 
the  situation  only  tolerable  until  a  change  could  be 
made  to  a  more  salubrious  climate  and  congenial 
f^eld. 

The  opportunity  came  as  soon  as  it  was  known  he 
would  accept  it,  and  he  took  up  the  work  in  a  portion 

40 


WILMINGTON  AND  BERRYVILLE 

of  the  Diocese  in  which  he  had  not  hitherto  Hved, 
— in  Clarke  County,  in  the  extreme  north  of  the 
State,  where  now  Virginia,  West  Virginia,  and  Mary- 
land are  so  jumbled  together  by  twisted  state  lines 
as  to  confuse  the  uninitiated  visitor.  His  field  em- 
braced Grace  Church,  Berryville,  and  Wickliffe 
Parish.  The  rectory  was  in  the  immediate  rear  of  the 
church,  and  the  two,  situated  in  the  highest  part  of 
the  town  of  Berryville  commanded  a  fine  view  of  the 
Blue  Ridge  on  one  side  and  the  foot  hills  of  the 
Alleghenies  on  the  other.  The  church  had  been 
built  by  his  father's  old  friend,  William  Meade.  The 
ministrations  of  this  Godly  man,  added  to  the  fact 
that  a  large  portion  of  the  community  were  immedi- 
ate descendants  of  Scotch  Presbyterians,  made  the 
work  less  onerous  spiritually  than  that  which  had  oc- 
cupied him  in  Goochland  and  Fluvanna.  The  intel- 
lectual pressure  was  lighter  and  the  physical  de- 
mands were  fewer,  because  he  had  only  two  congre- 
gations to  serve.  Moreover,  he  had  learned  to  use 
his  tools.  Having  learned  in  the  school  of  experience 
how  to  prepare  sermons  he  expended  less  of  fruitless 
energy  in  the  preparation  of  any  one  sermon. 

Here,  from  1844  to  1849,  he  lived  contentedly, 
worked  industriously,  but  not  feverishly,  and  grew  in 
clearness  of  vision,  strength  of  character,  and  facility 
and  eloquence  of  expression.  He  did  not  abhor  his 
old  sermons,  but  he  did  not  allow  them  to  fossilize. 
They  were  always  growing.  And  they  grew  by  the 
absorption  and  assimilation  of  their  fitting  food.  The 
hand  of  a  craftsman  never  showed  in  his  homiletic 
work.     His  sermons  were  logical  in  no  other  sense 

41 


RICHARD  HOOKER  WILMER 

than  that  in  which  the  Hfe  of  a  full-grown  oak  is  logi- 
cal, or  the  life  of  a  well-rounded  man  is  logical.  They 
were,  simply  and  inevitably,  the  outworking  of  a 
living  thing  according  to  its  essential  character.  His 
method  in  preparing  his  sermons  may  be  summed  up 
in  the  one  word  Concreteness.  Preaching  doctrinal 
sermons,  he  never  rested  in  abstraction.  Condemn- 
ing sin,  he  never  addressed  himself  to  ancient  or  dis- 
tant sinners.  Heralding  salvation,  he  never  promised 
a  safe  harbor  to  them  that  should  continue  in  un- 
righteous living.  It  was  his  practice,  whenever  he 
began  the  development  of  a  new  sermon,  to  sit  down 
first  and  write  it  out  in  the  form  of  a  strong  personal 
a])peal  to  some  member  of  his  parish  or  community, 
who,  in  his  judgment,  needed  some  such  friendly  but 
urgent  exhortation.  Having  thus  obtained  the  de- 
sired directness  and  friendliness  of  tone  he  eliminated 
from  the  final  draft  every  identifying  circumstance; 
and  when  he  entered  the  pulpit  the  labor  of  man  and 
the  grace  of  God  had  forged  a  weapon  that  pierced 
many  a  heart  with  the  conviction  of  its  sinfulness. 
In  reason  no  man  could  turn  out  such  sermons  as 
these  must  have  been  with  the  rapidity  and  lack  of 
elTort  with  which  machinery  can  place  the  finished 
product  on  the  market;  and  as  a  matter  of  fact  Mr. 
Wilmer  simply  declined  to  make  the  attempt.  Ex- 
cept on  rare  occasions  the  limit  of  his  sermon  produc- 
tiveness was  one  sermon  a  week.  His  method  of 
preaching  was  singularly  efl'ective.  While  he  com- 
monly carried  the  written  sermon  with  him  into  the 
pulpit  he  often  did  not  open  it  at  all  and  never  read 
more  than  a  part  of  it.     He  thus  produced  an  effect 

42 


WILMINGTON  AND  BERRYVILLE 

which  is  seldom  possible  from  a  preacher  who  reads 
closely  from  the  written  page.  The  preaching  was 
practised  on  Saturday  when  it  was  his  custom  to  re- 
hearse the  whole  sermon.  With  appropriate  gestic- 
ulation and  skillful  use  of  his  marvelous  gifts  of  voice, 
he  appealed  to  his  congregation  directly,  pinned 
their  attention  and  made  an  impression  upon  them 
which  they  did  not  forget.  Perhaps  the  most  note- 
worthy result  of  his  methods  as  a  preacher  was  found 
in  the  large  throngs  of  men  whom  he  drew  to  listen 
to  him.  They  came  because  he  was  eloquent  and 
sincere.  They  were  attracted  by  the  manliness  of 
the  preacher  as  well  as  the  Godly  manliness  which 
he  preached. 

Much  of  his  time  at  Berryville  was  used  but  not 
wasted  in  country-visits,  which  consumed  not  minutes 
but  hours;  in  hunting  trips  which  consumed  not 
hours  but  days;  and  in  tree-planting  which  demanded 
continued  watchfulness  and  discrimination.  The 
rectory  yard  at  Berryville  is  filled  with  fine  old  trees 
that  he  planted  fifty  years  ago. 

The  inevitable  monotony  of  life  in  a  small  village 
was  broken  by  intercourse  with  his  brother  clergy- 
men, by  exchange  of  pulpits,  and  by  meetings  of  the 
Valley  Convocation.  This  was  the  first  Convocation 
to  be  organized  in  Virginia.  To  Wilmer,  one  of  its 
organizers,  it  was  an  important  body.  The  first 
meeting  was  held  in  Shepherdstown,  and  it  was  a 
congenial  company  that  thus  met  together.  Besides 
Wilmer  there  were  his  kinsman  R.  Templeman 
Brown,  and  his  friends  James  Chisholm,  John  F. 
Hufif,  C.  W.  Andrews,  Alexander  Jones,  and  Corne- 

43 


RICHARD  HOOKER  WILMER 

lius  Walker.  The  last  named  was  his  nearest  neigh- 
bor, residing  at  Winchester,  only  ten  miles  from 
Berryville.  Next  to  William  H.  Kinckle  he  was 
Wilmer's  most  intimate  friend.  They  were  drawn 
together  in  part  by  like  views  on  theology,  but  chief- 
ly by  affinity  of  spirit.  They  often  exchanged  pulpits 
and  visits,  friendly  sympathy  and  congratulations. 
Recalling  this  period,  Dr.  Walker  writes:  "Our 
social  relations  were  of  a  peculiarly  pleasant  char- 
acter. It  was  always  a  pleasure  to  have  him  as  a 
guest,  and  his  genial  conversation  and  intercourse 
made  him  especially  welcome.  I  had  been  married 
only  a  few  months,  and  one  of  his  topics  of  pleasantry 
with  my  wife  was  that  of  the  beginning  of  house- 
keeping, and  its  proprieties,  especially  with  the  wives 
of  preachers,  and  their  need  of  carefulness — as  to 
criticism  from  lay  sisters  especially.  Sometimes  this 
would  be  in  connection  with  the  fare,  sometimes 
with  the  ornaments  of  the  table,  the  china  or  the 
silver  tea  set — the  presents,  perhaps,  of  others,  but 
condemned  by  visitors,  in  view  of  its  extravagance; 
and,  with  these  the  playful  exhortation  to  feminine 
clerical  propriety." 

It  was  probably  in  some  of  these  little  chats  that 
the  story  was  told  of  some  clergyman's  wife,  who 
had  been  on  a  clerical  visitation  with  her  husband  for 
one  or  two  weeks,  and  who  had  felt,  of  course,  that 
she  must  be  a  pattern  of  propriety.  The  visitation 
ended  in  a  brief  stay  at  the  house  of  a  brother  clergy- 
man. "I  am  in  Free  Mason's  Lodge,  now,"  was  her 
first  exclamation,  after  greetings  were  over,  "and  I 
can  say  what  I  please."     And  needless  to  say,  she 

44 


WILMINGTON  AND  BERRYVILLE 

pleased  to  say  a  good  many  things  that  she  had  not 
said  for  some  weeks. 

Not  in  clerical  homes  only  was  he  welcomed.  He 
had  a  strong  hold  upon  the  plain  people.  Called 
upon  to  perform  the  marriage  service  at  a  black- 
smith's home  near  Berryville,  he  was  compelled  to 
remain  several  hours.  So  well  did  he  use  this  time 
that  when  he  was  about  to  leave,  the  blacksmith  said 
to  him :  *T  am  certainly  sorry  to  see  you  go.  You 
make  a  man  feel  so  much  at  home  in  his  own  house." 

During  his  residence  in  Berryville  Mr.  Wilmer's 
reputation  as  a  preacher  became  more  widespread. 
His  growing  reputation  did  not,  however,  vitiate  the 
purity  of  his  teaching,  and  he  did  not,  for  the  sake  of 
popularity,  soften  his  stern  rebukes  of  sin.  Often, 
indeed,  the  very  manliness  of  the  man,  his  freedom 
from  Pharisaic  stringency  as  to  non-essentials,  and 
his  unqualified  insistence  on  the  weightier  matters  of 
the  law,  gave  his  words  an  importance  that  they 
would  not  have  had  if  spoken  by  a  less  masculine 
man.  Often  he  gave  ofifense,  but  he  never  shrank 
from  speaking  the  truth  that  he  might  avoid  that 
trial.  The  rule  which  he  adopted  here,  and  which 
he  followed  to  the  end,  and  which  he  sought  to  im- 
press upon  the  last  deacon  that  he  ordained,  he  him- 
self formulated  thus:  "Dare  not  say  aught  in  your 
pulpit  that  you  would  not  say  if  Christ  were  there  in 
visible  presence." 

On  one  occasion  Bishop  Meade,  when  visiting  the 
parish,  inquired  playfully,  "Brother  Wilmer,  how- 
many  people  have  you  preached  into  the  Church  this 
year?" 

45 


RICHARD  HOOKER  WILMER 

"I  haven't  preached  anybody  into  the  Church," 
was  the  answer;  "but  I  have  preached  one  man  out 
of  it." 

"Well,  Brother  Wilmer,"  responded  the  Bishop 
gravely,  "that  may  very  likely  be  the  best  year's 
preaching  you  have  ever  done." 

It  was  the  universal  custom  in  those  days  that 
communicants,  instead  of  approaching  and  leaving 
the  Communion  rail  singly,  came  and  went  by 
"tables."  When  the  first  rail  full  retired  the  next 
came  forward.  Between  every  two  rails  there  was, 
it  is  evident,  a  period  of  silence  for  which  there  was 
no  rubrical  provision,  and  during  which  there  was 
so  much  moving  and  rustling  as  to  impair  the  spirit 
of  devotion.  It  was  the  custom  of  many  to  take  this 
occasion  for  the  reciting  of  sacred  verse.  Mr.  Wil- 
mer adopted  the  practice  on  the  ground  that  it  was 
for  the  edification  of  the  congregation.  His  recita- 
tion of  the  old  hymns  was  unusually  striking,  for 
his  rendition  of  "Just  As  I  Am,"  and  of  "Rock  of 
Ages"  is  recalled  to  this  day  by  the  older  members 
of  WicklifTe  Parish. 

Early  in  the  year  1849  came  an  ominous  and  most 
discouraging  breakdown  in  the  young  minister,  who 
was  only  thirty-three  years  old,  and  who  should  have 
been  growing  stronger  and  stronger.  Obstinate 
catarrh,  which  returned  at  intervals  through  his 
whole  subsequent  life,  played  some  part  in  rendering 
him  unable  to  work.  The  limestone  water  of  the 
Valley  did  its  part,  also,  serving  him  as  it  afterwards 
served  his  successor,  Francis  M.  Whittle, — ruining 
his   digestion   and   leaving   him   for   many   years   a 

46 


WILMINGTON  AND  BERRYVILLE 

nervous  dyspeptic.  But  the  chief  trouble  was  nerv- 
ous exhaustion,  following  hard  mental  application 
and  high  spiritual  exaltation.  This  last  trouble  had 
threatened  for  some  time,  even  if  it  was  not  an  in- 
heritance from  the  high  pressure  which  had  char- 
acterized his  father's  life;  and  to  its  oncoming  and  a 
blind  groping  for  something  to  ward  it  ofi  may  be 
ascribed  Wilmer's  well-nigh  excessive  fondness  for 
tobacco,  whether  plug  or  fine-cut,  pipe  or  cigar. 
"You  must  stop  using  tobacco  in  any  form,"  said 
the  Philadelphia  physician  upon  whom  he  called  to 
diagnose  his  case;  "it  is  undermining  your  consti- 
tution and  seriously  affecting  your  heart."  "If  1 
thought  it  was  hurting  me  I  would  stop  it,"  returned 
Wilmer,  "but  I  don't  believe  it  has  anything  to  do 
with  the  case."     And  he  went  his  way. 

Nevertheless  he  did  make  more  than  one  attempt 
to  let  it  alone,  but  always  without  success.  The  story 
of  one  of  these  attempts  is  particularly  interesting: 

He  was  riding  along  the  country  road  late  one 
afternoon  with  a  friend  at  whose  home  he  was  to 
spend  the  night.  The  friend  had  been  inveighing 
against  the  folly  of  smoking  and  the  uncleanness  of 
chewing,  and  a  wave  of  contrition  seemed  to  sweep 
over  Wilmer.  For  once  he  could  not  make  adequate 
defense  of  his  habit.  Suddenly  rising  in  his  stirrups 
he  reached  down,  pulled  out  his  plug  of  tobacco,  and 
threw  it  as  far  as  he  could  into  the  weeds,  which 
spread  away  some  distance  from  the  road. 

"There,"  he  exclaimed,  "that's  the  last  time 
tobacco  shall  ever  pass  my  lips  in  any  form.  I  never 
realized  before  what  a  fooHsh  and  filthy  habit  it  is." 

47 


RICHARD  HOOKER  WILMER 

His  friend  congratulated  him  on  his  resohition, 
telHng  him  "that  it  was  nothing  more  than  lie  had 
expected  from  a  man  of  such  strong  character  when 
he  had  got  his  eyes  open,''  and  the  like;  and  as  they 
were  at  the  "big  gate,"  he  sidled  his  horse  forward 
to  perform  the  office  of  hospitality.  As  the  gate 
swung  open  he  turned  and  saw  Wilmer  looking 
anxiously  in  the  direction  of  the  tobacco.  Nothing, 
however,  was  said.  The  evening  passed  pleasantly, 
but,  for  Wilmer,  with  apparent  discomfort  and  nerv- 
ousness. 

Next  morning  when  the  host  called  his  guest  he 
called  in  vain.  On  entering  the  room  he  found  some 
of  W'ilmer's  clothes  on  a  chair,  but  Wilmer  himself 
was  absent.  Going  anxiously  out  on  the  front  porch 
and  looking  down  toward  the  big  gate  he  saw  his 
total  abstainer  on  his  hands  and  knees  beating  the 
weeds  carefully  for  his  rashly  discarded  plug.  Pres- 
ently he  found  it,  rose,  brushed  his  knees,  took  a 
generous  portion  for  immediate  consumption,  and 
came  back  to  the  house  to  finish  his  toilet.  No 
further  discomfort  and  nervousness  were  manifested 
by  him.  and  he  took  the  badinage  of  his  friend  most 
cheerfully. 

Many  years  later,  when  he  was  more  than  seventy 
years  of  age,  he  revisited  his  ancient  friend  and  the 
conversation  turned  most  naturally  to  old  days  and 
long-forgotten  incidents. 

"I  see,  Bishop,"  observed  his  friend  slyly,  "thcit 
you  haven't  quit  the  use  of  tobacco  yet." 

"No,"  responded  the  Bishop  with  a  chuckle,  "but 
I  have  quit  lying  about  it." 

48 


WILMINGTON  AND  BERRYVILLE 

Broken  down  as  he  was  Mr.  Wilmer  insisted  on 
working  up  to  the  last  day  of  his  residence  at  Berry- 
ville.  One  instance  of  this  earnestness  is  still  recall- 
ed: 

Shortly  before  his  departure  he  determined  to 
make  one  last  effort  to  bring  to  a  realization  of  his 
condition    an    old    unconfirmed     parishioner,     Col. 

W ,  whose  wife  was  a  Godly  woman.     He  had 

often  approached  the  old  gentleman  on  the  subject 
of  confessing  Christ  before  men,  but  had  as  often 
suffered  rebuff.  This  time  he  went  determined  to 
press  the  matter  to  a  conclusion.  The  conversation 
proceeded  at  first  along  commonplace  lines,  and  as 
long  as  it  did  not  become  more  serious  it  was  pleas- 
ant enough.  But  when  Mr.  Wilmer  finally  came  to 
the  purpose  of  his  visit,  and  began  to  urge  him  to 
come  to  Confirmation,  the  Colonel  said  not  another 
word,  until  a  momentary  pause  in  the  minister's  ap- 
peal gave  him  the  opening  that  he  wanted.  Then, 
abruptly  waving  aside  all  that  had  been  said,  he  re- 
marked in  the  most  casual  tone : 

"By  the  way,  Mr.  Wilmer,  come  out  in  the  lot 
with  me.  I  want  to  show  you  some  sheep  of  vvliich 
I  am  very  proud." 

Mr.  Wilmer  perceived  at  once  that  the  case  was 
hopeless  and  he  arose  to  go.  But  determining  to 
ease  his  own  soul  at  any  rate,  he  took  the  man's  hand 
and,  looking  him  square  in  the  face  exclaimed : 

"I  pray  God,  Colonel,  that  at  the  last  day  you  may 
be  found  among  the  sheep,  and  not  among  the 
goats." 

Almost  the  whole  of  the  ensuing  year  was  given 

49 


RICHARD  HOOKER  WILMER 

to  the  re-instating  of  his  health — an  uneventful  em- 
ployment. Most  of  the  time  he  spent  at  and  about 
Alexandria,  the  scene  of  his  happy  boyhood  and  the 
home  of  many  devoted  friends.  Two  characteristic 
letters  written  near  the  close  of  this  period  of  trial 
illuminate  the  spirit  of  the  man.  Written  only  ten 
(lays  apart  and  to  the  same  person — John  Stewart — 
and  dealing  with  entirely  different  matters,  they 
show  that  while  conditions  oppressed  him  they  could 
not  brow-beat  him : 

Alexandria,  January  4,  1850. 
"My  very  dear  friend, 

"I  cannot  say  how  many  promises  to  my- 
self concerning  you  have  evaporated  in  the  last 
twelve  months.  I  felt  that  you  were  one  who  had 
a  right  to  expect  some  reports  of  my  whereabouts 
and  my  whatabouts;  but  the  fact  is  that  for  some 
months  my  head  was  so  much  affected  as  to  entirely 
prevent  me  from  writing,  and  since  that  I  have  been 
so  much  of  a  wanderer  as  to  be  unable  to  do  any- 
thing with  system.  In  a  word.  I  have  been  oppressed 
with  the  intolerable  burden  of  having  nothing  to  do 
— the  most  engrossing  and  slavish  life  that  it  has  ever 
fallen  to  my  lot  to  experience. 

"But  I  will  not  enter  into  any  detailed  enunicia- 
tion  of  the  past,  for  the  care  of  us  all  seems  to  do 
with  the  future.  You  may  judge  with  what  anxiciy 
I  watched  the  progress  of  indisposition  which  little 
by  little  required  me  to  diminish  my  labors,  and  at 
last  demanded  the  most  absolute  abandonment  of 
all  mental  solicitude.  And  then  came  the  painful 
separation  from  a  congregation,  I  must  say  the  most 

50 


WILMINGTON  AND  BERRYVILLE 

devoted  and  anxious  that  I  have  ever  known, — and 
then  the  taking  up  the  staff — to  travel  you  know  not 
exactly  where.  All  this  you  may  imagine.  That  in 
the  shattered  condition  of  my  nervous  system  I  have 
survived  it.  is  to  me  most  amazing. 

"But  for  the  future :  I  have  now  been  lying  fallow 
for  a  year  almost.  Does  not  Providence  in  His  system 
of  improvement  deal  with  us  as  farmers  with  their 
lands? — turn  them  out  to  rest,  to  gather  to  them- 
selves the  elements  of  future  productiveness?  It 
may  be  that  we,  in  laboring  for  others,  forget  to 
supply  ourselves,  and  part,  so  to  speak,  with  some 
of  our  substance — as  lands  are  exhausted  by  heavy 
cropping — and  then,  as  they,  are  thrown  out  to 
rest.  At  all  events  this  has  been  my  hope  and  in 
some  sort  my  stay.  I  trust  that  the  wish  is  not  exclu- 
sively the  parent  of  the  thought — I  find  myself  how- 
ever still  upon  the  past. — 

"I  have  concluded  to  take  charge  of  a  small  parish 
this  side  of  the  Ridge  in  the  villages  of  Upperville 
and  Middleburg. 

"I  am  afraid  that  I  am  rather  premature,  but  the 
fact  is  that  I  had  no  choice..  I  cannot  live  without 
preaching — unless  I  should  secularize  myself — which 
is  a  painful  alternative,  and  should  ever  be  a  dernier 
ressort.  I  trust  however  that  the  duties  of  this  small 
parish  will  not  materially  conflict  with  my  con- 
valescent state  of  health.  If  I  can  get  a  small  place 
in  the  country  I  shall  do  so  with  the  hope  of  keeping 
up  the  improvement  in  my  health  and  also  of  contri- 
buting something  to  my  own  support. — I  write  this 
because  I  am  sure  that  you  will  be  glad  to  hear  what 

51 


RICHARD  HOOKER  WILMER 

are  my  plans  and  hopes.  Most  assuredly  I  should  be 
glad  to  hear  the  same  of  you  and  yours — I  want  to 
know  something  of  your  hopes  and  fears  and  efforts. 
There  are  great  plans  to  be  consumated,  and  I  fear 
much  that  most  Christians  are  sleeping  when  they 
ought  to  be  working. 

"Have  you  read  Elliott's  Horae  Apocalypticae? 
If  not,  lose  no  time  in  getting  it.  It  is  worth  all  that 
I  have  seen  upon  the  mysterious  Book  of  Revelation. 
It  will  afford  you  and  Mrs.  Stewart  a  winter's  de- 
light, and  I  envy  any  man  the  privilege  of  having  it 
to  read  for  the  first  time.  Should  you  see  Richard 
Cunningham  do  mention  it  to  him.  I  don't  know 
that  it  has  been  republished  in  this  country. 

"Here  is  the  end  of  my  sheet,  and  I  have  a  month's 
talk  about  Church,  State  and  Prophecy;  and  I  shall 
have  to  break  right  off.  with  room  to  say  no  more 
than  our  love  to  you  and  Mrs.  Stewart.  Do  write 
to  us  all  about  you,  and  very  soon. 

"Yours  affectionately, 

"R.  H.  WILMER. 

"N.  1>.  Address  me  at  Alexandria  where  I  shall 
be  for  ten  days  at  least,  and  after  that  at  Upperville. 
Fauquier  Co.,  Va." 

John  Stewart  answered  this  letter  at  once,  and 
Wilmer's  immediate  response  indicates  greater 
cheerfulness  of  spirit: 

Alexandria,  January  14,  1850. 
"My  dear  friend, 

"Your  letter  just  received  finds  me 
laboring  under  an  attack  of  catarrh,  which  has  con- 
fined me  to  my  room  for  a  week  and  given  me  over 

52 


WILMINGTON  AND  BERRYVILLE 

to  a  long  and  apparently  endless  train  of  Diaphoret- 
ics, etc.  The  doctor  says  that  their  effect  is  to  pro- 
duce a  determination  to  the  surface.  I  can  testify 
that  they  have  no  more  profound  tendency.  So  per- 
haps can  you  by  the  time  you  have  finished  this  sheet. 

"First,  as  to  the  money :  I  have  had  my  sym- 
pathies much  directed  of  late  to  an  ancient  member  of 
our  church,  who,  having  deserved  well  of  her  genera- 
tion, is  descending  to  the  shades  in  much  poverty 
and  dependence.  She  was  for  many  years  the 
matron  of  our  seminary  and  the  tender  alma  mater 
of  us  all.  The  infirmities  of  old  age  deny  her  the 
resource  of  any  exertion,  and  the  sensibility  and  re- 
finement of  her  character  preclude  her  from  enter- 
ing the  asylums  for  the  poor.  I  have  been  concoct- 
ing a  plan  for  doing  something  to  give  her  comfort 
and  the  feeling  of  independence  for  the  little  while 
she  has  to  spend  with  us.  Your  generosity  enables 
me  to  do  much  in  the  way  of  its  accomplishment, 
provided  you  approve.  She  is  all  that  your  terms  re- 
quire, save  that  she  is  not  a  widow.  But  why  should 
this  circumstance  bar  her  claim  to  kindly  considera- 
tion? For  though  she  never  lost  a  husband,  yet, 
sadder  still,  she  never  had  one;  and,  though  an  old 
maid,  has  more  of  the  milk  of  human  kindness  than 
many  widows. 

"I  plead  to  a  great  weakness  in  the  matter  of  old 
maids;  and  though  they  have  been  denied  the  great- 
est of  earthly  comforts  (and  that  not  usually  for  any 
lack  of  effort  on  their  part),  I  am  clear  for  their  not 
wanting  the  less.  Don't  you  agree  with  me,  Mrs. 
Stewart  ? 

53 


RICHARD  HOOKER  WILMER 

"Yet  who  ever  thinks  of  old  maids  with  any  ten- 
derness of  concern?  Where  are  your  asykims  for  the 
forlorn  ones  of  the  earth — laughed  at  by  the  women, 
and  not  asked  by  the  men?  A  woman  may  marry, 
remarry,  and  repeat;  and  after  having  drunk  to  the 
full,  there  is  an  asylum  for  widows  open  to  receive 
her.  I  tell  you,  my  dear  fellow,  we  aren't  up  to  our 
duty  in  regard  to  old  maids,  and,  nolens  volcns,  I 
am  going  to  make  you  do  something  for  old  maids 
this  time. 

"I  have  been  thinking  a  good  deal  about  the 
great  struggle  between  Protestantism  and  Popery 
that  is  soon  to  come  ofT.  Which  side  of  this  quarrel 
think  you  this  unfortunate  class  will  espouse  (and  as 
it  is  to  be  a  war  in  some  sense  with  the  tongue  you 
will  perceive  the  inquirj''  to  be  important),  unless  we 
mend  our  manner  towards  them?  The  Romanists 
make  much  of  them,  extol  the  single  state  far  above 
that  of  the  married,  and  provide  retreats  for  their 
chosen  ones  far  out  of  reach  of  the  rude  and  staring 
world;  while  the  Protestants,  for  no  better  reason,  it 
would  seem,  than  to  differ  from  their  adversaries 
(just  as  Presbyterians  stand  because  Romanists 
kneel),  treat  them  with  remarkable  neglect. — I  do 
trust  that  your  Protestant  feelings  will  not  be  shock- 
ed, nor  my  orthodoxy  suspected,  when  you  learn  that 
your  late  bounty  has  gone  as  an  offering  to  the 
virgin,  Mary.     (Miss  Mary  D ). 

"I  have  a  vast  deal  upon  my  mind  to  write  you 
anent.  Perhaps  at  a  more  auspicious  time  I  may 
trouble  you  with  some  of  the  reflections  I  have  made 
upon  passing  events.    I  trust  that  you  will  encourage 

54 


WILMINGTON  AND  BERRYVILLE 

me  by  doing  the  same  and  at  length.  I  am  only 
sorry  once  while  reading  your  letters,  and  that  is 
(an  Irishman  would  say)  when  I  have  finished.  I 
would  give  a  great  deal  to  spend  that  week  with  you, 
but  I  do  not  now  see  any  way  of  accomplishing  a  trip 
to  Virginia. 

"I  think  you  will  be  more  and  more  pleased  as  you 
hear  Dr.  Jones.  The  principal  defect  of  his  preach- 
ing, it  seems  to  me,  is  the  repeating  too  much  in  the 
way  of  exhortation  what  had  previously  been  suf- 
ficiently urged — and  that  with  greater  force.  But 
his  sermons  are  full  of  important  truth  and  frequent- 
ly of  eloquent  truth. 

"I  cannot  close  without  thanking  you  for  the 
volume  which  you  have  put  it  in  my  power  to  possess. 
I  have  made  arrangements  to  obtain  it  from  the 
North.  Nor  can  I  allude  without  emotion  to  the 
kind  and  delicate  manner  in  which  you  sought  to 
advantage  me  in  another  way.  I  have  but  little  and 
have  to  husband  well  my  resources,  and,  thank  God, 
have  so  far  been  preserved  from  the  weight  and 
temptations  of  debt.  The  least  among  our  anxieties, 
thanks  to  most  gracious  promises,  is  that  which  re- 
lates to  our  daily  sustenance.  I  do  trust  that  I  have 
sought  this  with  less  anxiety  than  I  have  the  King- 
dom of  God  and  His  righteousness,  and  may  reap  the 
promise. — 

"Let  me  hear  again  from  you.  My  indisposition 
will  keep  me  here  yet  for  some  days. — You  ought  to 
have  special  thanksgivings  that  you  have  girls — for 
wherewithal  shall  a  young  man  cleanse  his  way?  And 
when  I  see  the  abortive  efforts  of  parents  in  relation 

55 


RICHARD  HOOKER  WILMER 

to  their  sons,  and  the  heedlessness  of  boyhood  and 
manhood,  I  see  no  comfort  from  the  answer  to  the 
question,  'By  taking  heed  thereto  according  to  thy 
word.' 

"Mrs.  Wilmer  joins  in  kind  regards  to  yourself  and 
Mrs.  Stewart,  and  kisses  to  the  little  ones. 

"Yours  afTectionatclv, 

"R.  H.  WILMER. 


!» 


CHAPTER  IV 

UPPERVILLE    AND    FOREST 

The  three  years  (1850 — 1853)  that  Wihner  spent 
in  Upperville,  in  charge  of  work  in  Loudoun  and 
Fauquier   Counties,   were   ahnost   as   uneventful   as 
the  Wihnington  rectorship.     The  parishioners  were 
a  mere  handful.    The  work  to  be  done  was  practically 
what  he  chose  to  do,  and  local  conditions  would  have 
set  a  narrow  limit  to  the  most     aggressive  spirit. 
There  were  no  parish  houses,  no  vested  choirs,  no 
night   schools,    no   mothers'    meetings,    to   be    kept 
going;  no  vast  apartment  houses  in  which  to  make 
fifty  ten-minute  calls  in  a  single  day;  no  roar  from 
paved  streets,  no  clanging  of  trolley-car  bells,  no  in- 
sistent jangling  of  desk-telephone.      Instead   of  all 
this,  there  was  early  rising  and  intimate  dealing  with 
domestic  and   kitchen-garden   matters,   some  hours 
of  work  out  in  the  field,  a  ten-mile  ride  to  pray  with 
a  sick  parishioner  or  to  join  in  a  hunt,  an  hour  or 
two  of  reading  or  study — and  then  to  bed  and  re- 
freshing slumber.     The  years  that  passed  so  peace- 
fully brought  healing  on  their  wings  and  re-instated 
the  health   of  the   young  man   so   thoroughly  that 
though  he  never  was,  to  his  dying  day,  the  perfectly 
robust  man  that  nearly  every  one  took  him  to  be,  he 
never  again  laid  aside  his  work  because  of  physical 
infirmity. 

57 


RICHARD  HOOKER  WILMER 

Upperville  was  only  twenty  miles  distant  from  his 
old  home  at  Berryville,  but  it  was  separated  from 
Berryville  by  the  Blue  Ridge  and  by  the  traditions 
that  make  Englishmen  different  from  Scotchmen. 
Manners  were  easier  and  obligations  of  a  religious 
nature  were  carried  more  lightly.  For  one  thing 
church-going  was  a  matter  of  preference  more  than 
of  duty  or  of  privilege,  and  one  could  abandon  it 
entirely  without  losing  caste  in  the  community. 

Fortunately  for  Wilmer  the  similar  conditions 
with  which  he  had  had  to  contend  in  Goochland  and 
Fluvanna  at  the  outset  of  his  ministry  were  still 
fresh  in  his  mind,  and  he  determined  to  use  certain 
tactics  that  had  been  successful  before.  The  young 
men  were  the  hardest  to  get  to  church,  and  upon 
investigation  as  to  the  way  in  which  they  spent  Sun- 
day mornings  in  such  a  small  village,  when  they  did 
not  go  to  church,  he  found  that  they  were  accustom- 
ed to  play  marbles.  Marble-playing  was  not  then 
the  childish  sport  that  it  is  now,  but  among  the  rural 
population  held  the  place  with  sporting  characters 
that  is  now  held  in  larger  places  by  pool  or  billiards. 
Mr.  Wilmer  considered  for  a  while  what  would  be 
the  most  effective  way  to  deal  with  the  problem  that 
confronted  him.  In  his  younger  days  he  himself 
had  been  a  famous  marble  player,  and  it  is  a  tradition 
that  on  one  occasion,  in  order  to  show  certain 
doubters  that  he  had  no  superstitious  reverence  for 
dignities,  he  even  challenged  good  old  Bishop  Meade 
to  a  game.  Of  his  expertness,  however,  Upperville 
w^as  ignorant. 

So,  one  Saturday  morning  he  came  up  the  street 

58 


UPPERVILLE  AND  FOREST 

to  a  place  where  a  game  was  in  progress,  and  after 
standing  awhile  an  interested  but  inexperienced 
spectator,  and  asking  a  few  questions  that  showed 
his  abject  ignorance,  he  had  the  temerity  to  challenge 
the  whole  crowd  to  a  game  "for  keeps,"  as  they  al- 
ways played.  The  challenge  w^as  quickly  accepted 
and  Mr.  Wilmer  spent  that  one  Saturday  morning 
of  his  life  preparing  for  Sunday  in  a  most  unusual 
way.  The  young  men  had  expected  an  easy  victory, 
but  somehow  the  marbles  in  Wilmer's  pile  kept  in- 
creasing, while  their  own  had  to  be  replaced  by  fresh 
purchases.  Finally  every  marble  in  Upperville  was 
in  his  possession.  It  was  too  late  for  the  dealers  to 
get  a  new  supply  before  the  next  day.  The  usual 
sport  was  perforce  omitted  on  Sunday,  and  the 
players  being  really  good-natured  young  fellows  ac- 
cepted the  preacher's  cordial  invitation  to  attend 
church  in  the  absence  of  any  better  recreation. 
Again  his  proficiency  in  that  which  interested  men 
aroused  admiration;  some  became  regular  attendants 
at  church,  and  he  was  able  to  lead  their  interest  from 
the  person  preaching  to  the  Person  preached. 

During  these  years  came  two  children  to  bless  the 
home  life  of  the  young  minister.  Marion,  afterwards 
Mrs.  Flarvey  E.  Jones,  of  Mobile,  was  born  on 
February  lo,  1851,  and  Alexander  Brown  was  born 
on  August  9,  1853.  The  coming  of  children  added 
responsibilities  that  had  hitherto  been  lacking,  but 
also  swept  away  from  his  mind  and  his  preaching  the 
last  faint  trace  of  machine-made  theology.  The  ob- 
ligations of  husband,  which  humanize  men,  were  sup- 
planted, in  their  influence  on  abstract  reasoning,  by 

59 


RICHARD  HOOKER  WILMER 

the  obligations  of  father,  which  excel  all  other 
natural  obligations  in  the  clearness  with  which  they 
declare  the  mind  of  the  Heavenly  Father  to  His 
children.  From  this  period  an  element  of  sympathy 
and  tenderness  was  always  present  in  Mr.  Wilmer's 
sermons.  He  was  leaving  the  shallows  and  launch- 
ing out  into  the  deep. 

In  1853  Mr.  Wilmer  removed  to  Forest,  in  Bed- 
ford County,  just  west  of  Lynchburg,  and  took  up 
the  work  which  his  friend  Cobbs  had  begun  and 
carried  on  so  successfully.  Fourteen  years  had  pass- 
ed since  Cobbs  went  to  Petersburg,  and  some  vicissi- 
tudes had  befallen  the  work.  While  by  no  means 
discouraging,  it  had  not  developed  as  its  first  impulse 
had  promised.  In  fact,  this  country  work  had,  like 
many  persons,  attained  maturity  rapidly,  yet  without 
attaining  any  extraordinary  maturity. 

The  condition  of  parochial  stagnation  which  he 
found  did  not  disturb  Mr.  Wilmer,  for  emphatically 
it  was  not  a  day  of  institutional  work  when  it  would 
seem  that  the  first  and  great  commandment  is  this, 
Thou  shalt  love  thy  neighbor  as  thyself;  and  it  was  a 
day  when  the  clergy  were  more  engrossed  in  build- 
ing up  souls  than  in  Iniilding  up  parishes.  Little  that 
is  now  embraced  in  the  phrase  "Christian  Socialism" 
was  then  heard  from  the  pulpit.  Personal  innocence 
and  personal  righteousness  were  insisted  upon;  over 
and  over  again  it  was  proclaimed  that  the  religious 
must  be  self-supporting  and  that  no  truly  religious 
person  could  for  selfish  advantage  harm  others;  but 
the  problem  of  how  to  elevate  the  masses  was  not  in 
the  preacher's  text-book.     To  secure  the  approach 

60 


UPPERVILLE  AND  FOREST 

of  the  individual  soul  to  God  was  the  great  object  of 
the  preacher,  and  this  approach  was  to  be  made  not 
by  works  of  righteousness  but  by  a  realizing  sense 
of  God's  mercy.  Such  teaching  had  its  good  side, 
but  it  had  also  its  bad  side.  It  brought  heaven  and 
eternity  and  God  very  near,  but  in  foregrasping 
spiritual  joys  it  tended  to  forget  earthly  obligations. 
It  set  the  head  in  the  clouds,  and  trusted  to  the 
enthusiasm  of  the  Vision  to  do  the  duty  of  more 
sober  but  not  less  divine  principle.  It  was  here  that 
Mr.  W'ilmer  first  said,  v/ith  impatient  jest  at  the  nar- 
row evangelicalism  of  the  prevailing  Virginia 
Churchmanship,  as  alien  to  his  own  as  to  Cobbs's : 

"Our  people  are  so  afraid  of  being  justified  by  good 
vsorks  instead  of  by  faith  that  they  won't  do  aity 
good  works." 

.  IIow  Mr.  W'ilmer  dealt  with  spurious  forms  of  so- 
called  rcli^r-ion  is  best  shown  bv  an  incident  that 
occurred  in  Bedford  County,  and  that  he  was  fond  of 
recounting: 

A  very  dyspeptic  old  lady,  known  as  "Ma  Bettie," 
lived  in  the  parish.  With  some  of  the  clergy  and 
numbers  of  the  laity  who  often  confounded  dyspepsia 
with  piety,  and  flatulency  with  spiritual  depression, 
she  passed  for  quite  a  saint.  This  reputation  was 
founded  for  the  most  part,  so  far  as  Mr.  Wilmer 
could  glean  from  diligent  inquiry  as  to  what  particu- 
larly saintly  works  she  had  done,  upon  the  old  lady's 
eagerness  for  prayers  during  her  oft-recurring  pe- 
riods of  depression. 

Mr.  Wilmer  had  not  yet  met  with  the  old  lady,  but 
he   had   formed   an   exalted   idea   of  her   spirituality 

6i 


RICHARD  HOOKER  WILMER 

from  description  and  from  general  repute.  One 
afternoon  he  received  a  hurried  message  to  come  to 
her. 

The  servant  said  she  was  "in  a  bad  way."  He 
hastened  to  her  bedside,  and  was  soon  in  the  midst 
of  the  prayers  and  hymns  and  usual  consolations. 
After  a  time  the  old  lady  seemed  to  be  relieved,  and 
he  left. 

After  frequent  repetitions  of  this  experience  the 
young  minister  began  to  suspect  that  there  was  some 
hitherto  overlooked  cause  for  her  depression,  and 
that  it  did  not  lie  entirely  in  the  domain  of  the  soul. 
He  l)Cgan  to  study  the  phenomena  of  the  case.  He 
was  soon  struck  by  the  fact  that  the  attacks  came  on 
late  in  the  afternoon,  and  that  they  synchronized 
suspiciously  with  the  dinner-parties  of  a  friend  near- 
by, who  ahvay  sent  her  a  waiter  from  tlic  feast.  On 
these  facts  he  based  a  theory  which  he  was  soon  en- 
abled to  verify. 

One  (lav  the  friend  gave  another  dinner-party. 
Late  in  the  afternoon  the  parson  was  hastily  sum- 
moned to  Ma  Tiettie.  He  found  the  invalid  very  un- 
comfortable, and  manifesting  great  difliculty  of 
breathing.  On  the  table  by  her  side  were  ranged 
the  Bible,  the  Prayer  Book,  Law's  "Serious  Call  to 
a  Devout  Life,"  and  Jeremy  Taylor's  "Holy  Living 
and  Holy  Dying."  The  old  lady  looked  toward  her 
spiritual  adviser  speechlessly,  imploringly.  She 
thought  that  her  hour  had  come. 

Instead  of  reaching  forth  his  hands  to  the  books, 
Mr.  Wilmer  asked  the  patient,  abruptly  and  unfeel- 
ingly, "W'liat  did  you  eat  for  dinner  to-day?" — a  most 

62 


UPPERVILLE  AND  FOREST 

iinspiritual  question,  and  entirely  irrelevant  to  the 
weighty  errand  on  which  he  was  presumed  to  have 
come.  So  it  seemed  to  the  old  lady,  and  she  began, 
as  is  the  wont  of  people  of  a  certain  sort,  to  talk 
about  the  great  piety  of  Mr.  Wilmer's  predecessor, 
who  had  prayed  over  the  old  lady  for  many  years 
without  once  suspecting  the  cause  of  her  depression. 
Happily,  however,  the  predecessor  was  not  present, 
and  Mr.Wilmer  insisted  on  his  question:  "Now,  tell 
me,  Ma  Bettie,  did  you  not  eat  your  usual  dinner  ot 
bacon-and-greens  to-day,  and  an  hour  or  so  after- 
wards did  not  our  friend  Mrs.  send  yon 

some  pie,  and  custard,  and  suet  pudding?"  The 
minister  himself  had  a  remaining  sense  of  the  same 
suet  pudding. 

The  old  lady,  with  a  deep  sigh,  confessed  to  the 
whole. 

"Now,  my  dear  Ma  Bettie,  don't  you  think  that 
your  unusual  depression  may  be  due  in  some  part  to 
indigestion?"  asked  ]\Ir.  Wilmer.  He  then  suggested 
a  little  ginger  toddy  as  an  admirable  consolation  in 
such  conditions. 

"Ah,"  groaned  Ma  Bettie,  her  mind  persistently 
bringing  up  the  poor  parson's  predecessor,  "my  dear, 

good     Mr.     S ;  he  understood     my     case, 

his  prayers  always  helped  me  in  these  spells." 

"Now,  my  dear  madam,"  urged  Mr.  Wilmer,  "lot 
me  be  plain  with  you.  I  trust  that  I  am  not  insensible 
to  the  efficacy  of  prayer.  In  its  own  line  of  action  it  is 
incomparable.  I  know  nothing  else  so  efficacious.  But 
I  venture  to  suggest  that  you  are  mistaken  as  to  your 
present  condition.     You  need  medical  treatment." 

63 


RICHARD  HOOKER  WILMER 

"But,  oh!  Mr.  Wilmer,  I  have  such  a  sinking  spell." 

"Yes,  I  see;  but  don't  you  know  that  any  vessel 
overloaded  is  sure  to  have  a  sinking  spell?" 

The  old  lady  was  utterly  insensible  to  the  sugges- 
tion offered,  and  kept  on  her  maundering  talk  of 
former  blessedness  under  other  ministrations,  when 
the  pastor  prayed  all  the  time,  read  hymns,  etc.,  etc. 

Finally  Mr.  W'ilmcr's  patience  was  exhausted,  and 
he  broke  in:  "Well,  my  dear  madam,  that's  all  just 
as  you  say,  no  doubt.  But  let  me  say  just  this: 
There  are  some  kinds  of  depression  that  come  forth 
by  the  consolations  of  religion — prayer,  and  hynin- 
reading,  and  the  like;  but  'this  kind' — this  kind  that 
is  now  troubling  you — 'can  come  forth"  and  in  future 
be  warded  off,  'by  nothing  but  by  prayer  and  fast- 
ing.' " 

Then  he  declined  to  hear  another  word  from  her 
at  that  time,  but  mixed  her  a  little  toddy,  dashing  it 
with  essence  of  ginger;  and  she  was  speedily  relieved. 
.After  a  good  nap,  during  which  the  minister  sat 
quietly  wailing,  she  awoke  to  receive  certain  Godly 
admonitions  which  Mr.  Wilmer  administered  with 
due  respect  to  the  conditions. 

When  Ma  Bettie  sank  to  her  rest  that  night  she 
was  not  c|uite  so  much  of  a  saint  in  her  own  estima- 
tion, but  she  was  a  much  more  sensible  woman.  And 
by  more  attention  and  self-control  in  her  diet  she 
became  a  much  healthier  and  hap])ier  Christian. 

Wilmer's  life  during  his  Bedford  ministry  was 
determined  largely  by  the  condition  of  his  health. 
The  years  passed  in  Fauquier  and  Loudoun  had 
done  much  to  build  him  up,  but  Bedford  did  more. 

64 


UPPERVILLE  AND  FOREST 

Living  on  a  farm,  and  laboring  the  greater  part  of 
every  day  with  his  own  hands,  his  system  gradually 
became  normal,  and  the  forces  of  nature  seemed 
refreshed  as  the  fields  by  rainbearing  clouds.  He 
prepared  only  one  sermon  every  week.  He  never 
preached  a  poor  sermon,  but  he  often  preached  an 
old  one,  brought  over,  with  modifications,  from  a 
former  pastorate.  He  made  meagre  reports  to  the 
Diocesan  Convention,  and  gave  few  figures,  but 
from  the  reports  given  it  is  evident  that  his  ministra- 
tions were  less  effective  in  lengthening  the  cords  of 
the  Church  than  in  strengthening  her  stakes. 

He  had  now  held  parishes  in  Fluvanna  and  Gooch- 
land, at  Upperville  and  Berryville,  and  in  Nelson 
County,  and  was  well  known  also  in  Alexandria.  His 
reputation  during  the  season  of  his  illness  and 
progress  to  restored  health  had  steadily  grown  and 
he  was  probably  the  best  known  young  country 
clergyman  in  the  State. 

The  years  had  rolled  by,  one  very  much  like  an- 
other, but  with  the  successive  summers  and  winters 
Wilmer  attained  greater  mental  and  spiritual  power 
and  became  more  and  more  firmly  rooted  in  the 
faith  and  in  a  consistent  philosophic  realization  of 
it.  Conscious  as  he  was  of  his  extraordinary  capacity 
he  had,  without  effort  that  was  apparent,  restrained 
himself  for  many  years  to  the  circumscribed,  mono- 
tonous life  of  a  rural  missionary,  laying  up  a  goodly 
supply  for  the  life  of  greater  activity  which  he  knew 
must  come,  but  which  he  would  not  seize  before  it 
thrust  itself  upon  him  as  a  task  assigned  by  God 
himself. 

65 


CHAPTER  V 

EMMANUEL,   HENRICO   COUNTY 

The  summons  to  this  unknown,  harder  work  came 
to  Wihiier  at  the  age  of  forty-two,  and  it  came  from 
a  most  unexpected  quarter.  His  old-time  friend, 
John  Stewart,  had  been  growing  during  these  many 
years  in  wealth  and  in  sense  of  responsibility  for  a 
proper  disposal  of  what  God  had  given  him.  Brook 
Hill,  his  country  seat,  about  four  miles  north  of 
Richmond,  was  surrounded  by  many  extremely  poor 
persons,  poor  with  the  poverty  peculiar  to  the  "poor 
whites''  of  the  South  in  olden  days.  These  peo- 
ple were  living  in  practical  atheism.  They  had  no 
house  of  worship,  and  though  so  near  a  highly  cul- 
tured city  were  entirely  overlooked  in  the  weekly 
ministrations  of  the  Gospel. 

The  role  of  Dives  was  one  which  Mr.  Stewart 
could  not  be  accused  of  assuming.  Selfish  ease 
was  something  he  had  heard  of,  but  had  never  exper- 
ienced in  himself.  That  sense  of  responsibility  of 
which  mention  was  made  a  few  lines  back  gave  him 
no  rest  until  he  had  exhausted  every  means  of 
obeying  its  imperious  demands.  The  great  fear  of 
his  life  was  that  he  might  become  covetous,  and  to 
overcome  this  supposed  tendency  he  exercised  him- 
self in  liberality.      While  he  was  earning  his  wealth 

66 


EMMANUEL,  HENRICO  COUNTY 

he  was  imbued  with  the  thought  that  to  render  a 
good  account  of  his  stewardship  it  would  be  neces- 
sary for  him  to  spare  nothing  in  attempting  to  help 
his  poorer  brethren,  the  children  of  a  common 
Father.  The  best  way  to  start  about  this  work  so 
as  to  make  it  count,  it  seemed  to  him,  was  to  reveal 
to  these  ignorant  persons  the  fact  that  they  were 
God's  children,  and  that  God  was  seeking  them  that 
he  might  give  them  part  of  their  rightful  heritage. 
Not  gifted  with  the  power  of  public  speech,  he 
sought  a  preacher,  and  his  mind  turned  instinctively 
to  his  friend  Wilmer,  whose  power  had  been  felt  in 
his  own  life.  He  proposed  that  Wilmer  should 
come  into  the  field  and  gather  his  own  material  and 
build  up  his  own  congregation;  while  he  himself 
would  take  care  of  the  temporal  considerations. 

Seeking  to  make  plain  his  whole  spirit  in  the  mat- 
ter he  wrote  to  Wilmer :  "The  main  thought  is  this — 
that  here  am  I  in  the  midst  of  a  poor  heathenized, 
or  rapidly  becoming  so,  population,  white  and 
black;  with  material  all  around  far  more  promising 
to  human  eye  than  in  three-fourths  of  the  recently 
formed  country-churches  in  Virginia;  that  the 
natural  process  being  for  the  Gospel  to  leaven  parts 
adjacent,  radiating  from  the  towns  as  centres  until 
finally  it  over-spreads  the  length  and  breadth  of  the 
land,  why  should  it  not  do  so,  or  begin  to  do  so,  in 
the  neighborhood  of  Richmond?  I  see  no  reason  why 
it  should  not  be  that,  with  the  proper  man — that  is, 
with  love  to  Christ,  and,  with  Christ,  for  human 
souls,  with  energy,  and  what  is  called  tact  and  good 
sense,  good  feeling,  and  a  good  way  of  showing  all 

67 


RICHARD  HOOKER  WILMER 

things,  so  as  to  draw  and  touch  that  strangely  com- 
plicated machine,  the  human  heart — we  may  not  ask 
and  look  for  the  blessing  of  God ;  and  with  this,  suc- 
cess is  certain.  Not  such  as  will  make  much  stir 
or  noise  in  this  world — though,  it  may  in  heaven, 
where  fame  is  worth  having.  I  am  not  blinded  by 
personal  attachment  when  I  say  that  I  think  you  are 
that  man." 

This  invitation  came  to  Mr.  Wilmer  almost  simul- 
taneously with  calls  to  several  large  established 
jiarishes,  and  he  took  them  all  into  consideration,  but 
passed  by  all  the  attractive  invitations  and,  under 
the  leading  of  God,  chose  the  work  that  was  least 
of  all — that,  indeed,  was  existent  only  to  the  eye  of 
faith.  He  did  not  come  to  this  decision  without  a 
struggle.  It  was  under  advisement  for  more  than 
four  months;  but  when  he  did  accept  he  pledged  him- 
self to  give  the  project  at  least  three  years'  trial. 
Mr.  Stewart's  proposition  was  laid  before  him  in 
July,  and  was  not  accepted  until  December. 

After  accepting  Mr.  Wilmer  lost  no  time  in  en- 
tering upon  his  novel  work.  He  had  no  precedents 
to  guide  him.  He  was  attempting  something  that 
nearly  everybody  knew  would  fail.  It  was  the  loudly 
proclaimed  theory  of  popular  Protestantism,  a  theory 
weakly  echoed  by  unthinking  or  faithless  Church- 
men, that  the  Protestant  Episcopal  Church  was  not 
suited  to  the  unlearned  and  the  uncultured.  The 
progress  of  the  Church  among  the  Negroes  of 
Georgia,  on  the  plains  of  the  West,  and  in  the 
crowded  tenements  of  New  York's  East  Side  had  not 
yet    proclaimed  the  adaptability  of  the  Church    to 

68 


EMMANUEL,  HENRICO  COUNTY 

varying  conditions,  and  her  inevitable  fitness,  when 
going-  in  the  spirit  of  Christ,  to  reach  all  that  Christ 
Himself  can  reach.  Nor  had  it  yet  entered  many 
minds  that  a  legitimate  function  of  the  Church  is 
to  bring  intellectual  enlightenment  into  the  lives 
of  the  ignorant  that  they  may  have  a  more  abundant 
life,  and  so  be  enabled  to  apprehend  to  some  extent 
what  is  that  rational  service  which  it  is  the  duty  of 
every  Christian  to  substitute  for  unthinking  com- 
pliance with  received  rites,  ceremonies  and  customs. 
In  entering  upon  this  new  work  Mr.  Wilmer  did 
not  deem  it  necessary  to  introduce  any  startling 
methods.  He  assumed  that  the  fundamental  needs 
at  Brook  Hill  were  the  same  as  at  Berryville  and 
Upperville,  and  on  this  assumption  he  applied  the 
same  methods  that  he  had  found  successful  there, 
and  that  he  knew  were  not  merely  experimental. 
He  visited  diligently  from  house  to  house,  and 
preached  to  his  rude  auditors  the  same  sort  of  ser- 
mons that  he  had  been  preaching  to  men  and  women 
of  another  class.  While  he  preached  John  Stewart 
prayed,  and  the  preacher  attributed  the  effect  tliat 
followed  his  sermons  to  Mr.  Stewart's  prayers.  Ser- 
vices were  held  at  first  in  the  neighborhood  school- 
house,  which  was  the  common  property  of  all  reli- 
gious denominations.  But  soon  a  church  was  built, 
nominally  by  the  congregation  at  large,  the  poorest 
giving  his  mite,  but  really  by  John  Stewart  and  his 
brother  Daniel,  who  gave  all  but  one  hundred  dol- 
lars of  the  $13,000  expended  in  building  operations. 
The  church  was  named  Emmanuel — God-with-us. 
Then  a  parsonage  was  built.     The  hearts  of  the  peo- 

69 


RICHARD  HOOKER  WILMER 

pie  were  gained,  the  confirmation  classes  were 
large,  and  as  the  months  went  by  a  crowded  church 
and  a  full  Communion  rail  attested  the  success  of 
the  work. 

In  the  building  of  the  church  and  of  the  rectory- 
there  were  differences  of  opinion.  These  differ- 
ences arose,  not  between  the  rector  and  the  benefac- 
tor, but  between  the  rector  and  the  various  members 
of  the  vestry  which  had  been  elected  to  dissipate  all 
suspicion  of  proprietorship  and  dictatorship,  and 
which  succeeded  right  well  in  that  purpose.  At  the 
beginning  the  Stewarts  gave  seven  and  five-sixths 
acres  of  land  for  church,  rectory,  and  burying 
ground.  The  burying  ground  was  to  be  governed 
always  by  a  self-perpetuating  body  of  trustees.  The 
design  of  the  church  was  selected  by  the  rector,  but 
the  vestry  overrode  him  in  the  location  of  the  build- 
ing. He  took  the  bit  in  his  teeth,  however,  in  the 
location  of  the  rectory,  a  commodious  two-story 
edifice,  which  he  placed  on  the  other  side  of  the  main 
road  and  far  back  in  the  woods.  His  object  in  thus 
locating  the  rectory  was  to  protect  his  domestic  life 
from  incursions  of  babies  on  Sunday  mornings.  An- 
other result,  which  was  not  anticipated,  was  that  its 
retired  location  preserved  it  from  two  raids  of 
Federal  troops,  a  few  years  later,  the  soldiers  passing 
within  a  hundred  yards  of  the  house  w^ithout  suspect- 
ing that  any  one  was  living  in  the  vicinity. 

In  the  late  summer  of  1859  the  work  was  well 
under  way.  The  foundations  of  the  church  were 
already  laid,  and  Mr.  Wilmer  wrote  to  John  Stewart, 
then    absent    at    the    springs:     "Mr.     Williamson 

70 


EMMANUEL,  HENRICO  COUNTY 

groaned  much  over  the  foundation  and  site  of  the 
church.      It  looked  to  me  askew — but  I  take  it  for 
granted  that  it  was  admirably  done.     I  am  inclined 
to  think  that   if  the  church   is  completed   in  about 
two  years  more  it  may  be  better  for  us,  but  as  we 
have  asked  God  to  direct  all  things  I   suppose  the 
best  time  for  it  to  be  finished  will  be — when  it  is 
finished."       He  wrote  at  the  same  time  about  his 
July  and  August  parish  visiting:     "I  reached  home 
a  few  days  after  you  left,  and  have  been  going  the 
grand   round   ever  since.       More   prayer  and   more 
faith   will  do  much :      I   have   assuredly,   in   the   last 
week,   done   talking  enough."     Some   personal   and 
parochial  details  are  revealed  in  a  letter  written  a 
few  weeks  later:      "I   was  laid   up  for  a  few  days 
with  sore-throat  and  fever.      Am  in  usual  health  ex- 
cept    some  chronic     sore-throat  with     hoarseness; 
preached  all  day  yesterday  and  am  as  hoarse  as  a 
raven  to-day.  *  *  *  Had  some  sweet  singing  yester- 
day at  the  Brook.     The  young  people  meet  every 
Friday   afternoon   for  practice,   and   show  good   re- 
sults.     I  take  great  comfort  in  thinking  that  you  and 
your  brother  remember  us  every  Sunday  afternoon 
in  your  prayers.     We  have  been  blessed,  I  verily  be- 
lieve."    And  again  he  wrote:  "I  preached  for  Min- 
negerode  yesterday  morning  in  pay  for  some  of  his 
valuable  help.     The  congregation,  owing  to  the  ab- 
sence  of   the   rectors   of   the    Monumental   and    St. 
James's,  was  large.     We  had  a  fine  congregation  at 
the    Brook    in    the    afternoon — many    seatless,    and 
frinsfine  the  outside  of  the  windows." 

Several  incidents  will  illustrate  the  sanctified  com- 

71 


RICHARD  HOOKER  WILMER 

mon-sense  with  which  Wihiier  met  the  varying  con- 
ditions of  his  work,  and  used  now  the  staff  and  now 
the  rod  of  the  faithful  shepherd : 

Like  all  clergymen  he  was  anxious  to  bring  many 
to  their  Baptism  and  their  Confirmation,  but  unlike 
some  he  was  so  clear  as  to  what  Baptism  and  Con- 
firmation should  mean  to  an  adult  that  he  would 
not  practically  force  these  rites  on  an  unwilling  or 
half-convinced    man.      "I    staid    all    night    at     Dr. 

's,"  he   wrote   to   his  friend.       "He  is   nnich 

concerned,  I  think;  but  how  can  a  man  serve  two 

masters?    Mr.  B is  [convinced]  a  little  push 

would  bring  him  in,  but  I  won't  give  it.  This  is 
necessary  to  make  the  surrender  perfect." 

But  when  he  thought  admonition  necessary  he 
used  it,  according  to  his  judgment  of  the  exigencies 
of  the  occasion.  "Why  don't  you  come  to  your 
Confirmation?"  he  asked  a  friend  one  day. 

"Well."  replied  his  friend,  "the  fact  is  that  I  can- 
not exactly  swallow  the  Creed,  and  I  have  been 
trying  to  swallow  it  many  years." 

"Vou  must  change  your  swallow  then,"  retorted 
Mr.  Wilmer. 

Some  months  passed  before  the  two  met  again 
"I  have  thought  of  what  you  .said,"  began  the  friend, 
"and  I  am  going  to  be  confirmed  at  the  earliest  op- 
portunity. For  twenty  years  I  have  been  tinkering 
at  the  Creed,  and  your  suggestion  put  me  on  an  en- 
tirely new  tack.  I  found  that  the  Creed  could  not 
be  changed,  and  T  have  gone  to  work  to  enlarge 
my  swallow." 

At   another   time   the   door  of  a   house  at   which 

72 


EMMANUEL,  HENRICO  COUNTY 

Mr.  Wilmer  called  was  opened  by  one  of  the  little. 
Sunday  School  children,  and  as  he  shook  hands  with 
her  he  asked  abruptly.  "Do  you  know  your  Cate- 
chism?" 

"Yes,   sir,"   was  the   timid   response   of  the  little 


girl. 


"What  is  your  name?  Who  gave  you  this  name? 
What  did  your  Sponsors  then  for  you?  Dost 
thou  not  think  that  thou  art  bound  to  believe,  and 
to  do,  as  they  have  promised  for  thee?"  The  ques- 
tions came  rapidly,  and  were  answered  by  the  child 
without  hesitation.  The  Creed,  the  Command- 
ments, the  Duty  to  God  and  to  our  Neighbor,  the 
Lord's  Prayer — all  were  passed  safely;  and  then 
came  the  question :  "What  desirest  thou  of  God  in 
this  prayer?" — a  question  that  may  properly  be 
called  the  pons  asinomm  of  the  Church  Catechism. 
The  child  started,  stopped,  started  again,  balked, 
made  a  third  start;  and  almost  in  tears  confessed  that 
she  could  not  answer. 

"That  wall  do  then,"  replied  her  catechist;  "you 
don't  know  your  Catechism.  Go  tell  your  mother 
Eve  come  to  see  her,"  and  he  walked  on  into  the 
house.  The  little  girl  rushed  to  her  room,  had  a 
good  cry,  washed  her  face,  brushed  her  hair,  and 
sat  down  to  perfect  herself  in  her  Catechism.  She 
succeeded  in  her  task.  Years  afterwards  she  mildly 
remonstrated  with  her  former  pastor  for  a  hardness 
of  manner  on  this  occasion  that  had  cut  her  to  the 
quick. 

"Daughter,"  he  replied,  "did  you  learn  your  Cate- 
chism after  that?" 

73 


RICHARD  HOOKER  WILMER 

"I  certainly  did,  Bishop." 

"Well,  that  was  what  I  was  after,"  he  returned. 

"But,  Bishop,"  she  urged,  "would  Christ  have 
taken  such  a  method  of  making  a  little  girl  perfect 
herself  in  what  she  had  evidently  been  working  on 
honestly  before?" 

The  Bishop's  face  grew  suddenly  grave.  He 
looked  at  her  steadily  a  moment,  and  then  said : 
"Perhaps  not,  my  daughter,  perhaps  not." 

These  illustrations  of  methods  so  diverse  make 
manifest  that  "gumption"  on  the  possession  of 
which  Mr.  W'ilmer  always  prided  himself — the  wis- 
dom to  work  always  according  to  one's  own  charac- 
teristics and  endowments,  the  al)ility  to  vary  tl-e 
treatment  according  to  the  diagnosis  of  the  pat'^nt's 
condition,  the  courage  to  lose  for  the  present  in 
order  to  secure  the  ultimate  gain.  It  was  because 
he  adhered  strictly  to  this  rule  of  fitness  to  the  ulti- 
mate aim,  that  he  was  looked  upon  as  "high"  in 
Berryvillc,  and  as  "low"  at  Brook  Hill;  these  popular 
designations  having  reference  solely  to  his  method 
of  conducting  the  service.  y\n  ornate  service  (the 
term  "ornate"  is  purely  relative)  best  subserved  the 
uses  of  public  worship  at  the  former  place,  while 
at  the  latter  the  severest  simplicity  was  essential  to 
sincere  worship.  It  was  always  a  regret  to  Wilmer 
that  there  was  not  in  every  theological  seminary  a 
"Chair  of  Gumption"  for  the  propagation  of  com- 
mon-sense among  the  nascent  clergymen. 

The  first  summer's  rectorship  was  marked  by  a 
great  deal  of  sickness  in  the  neighborhood,  chiefly 
of  a  diphtheritic  nature,  and  Mr.  Wilmer,  who  had 

74 


EMMANUEL,  HENRICO  COUNTY 

sent  his  family  away,  cared  in  every  possible  way  for 
his  congregation,  not  absenting  himself  where  he 
could  benefit,  and  not  thrusting  himself  where  he 
would  add  to  cares  with  no  other  effect  than  to  de- 
clare his  own  zeal.  His  instinct  as  a  gentleman  is 
shown  in  this  passing  allusion  in  one  of  his  letters: 
"The  disease  in  its  serious  form  is  one  which  yields 
to  no  treatment  that  doctors  know  of.  I  have  not 
seen  them  (certain  sick  persons)  for  a  few  days,  be- 
cause I  would  not  be  of  any  service,  and  did  not 
wish  by  going  to  withdraw  their  attendance  upon 
the  sick." 

His  characteristic  sense  of  humor  could  see  ab- 
surdity in  forms  of  speech,  if  not  in  matter  of  thought, 
even  in  circumstances  of  distressing  illness.  He  re- 
lates the  following  conversation  with  a  physician  just 
returning  from  a  visit  to  a  patient : 

"Where  from,  Doctor?" 

"From  Mr.  B's.      His  daughter  is  very  ill." 

"What's  the  matter?" 

"Diphtheritic  croup." 

"What  are  you  doing  for  it?" 

"Giving  calomel  in  furious  doses." 

"Good  constitution,  Doctor?" 

"Yes.      She  stands  medicine  wonderfully." 

"That's  about  the  fact,"  was  Mr.  Wilmer's  com- 
ment, which  the  physician  did  not  hear.  "Gibraltar 
stands  ^cannonading  wonderfully,  but  I  never  knew 
that  the  cannon-balls  did  Gibraltar  any  good.  Mr. 
B.  told  me  that  they  were  now  giving  his  daughter 
three  grains  of  calomel  every  two  hours,  and  that 
the  child  did  not  fancy  anything  to  eat,  although 

75 


RICHARD  HOOKER  WILMER 

the  doctor  wished  her  to  eat.  Very  likely.  I  know 
of  many  diseases  that  flesh  is  heir  to,  but  of  few  worse 
than  an  attack  of  mercury  every  two  hours.  Bless 
the  babies !     Speaking  of  babies,  I  suppose  you  have 

heard  that  M is  another  father." 

Happily  the  treatment  in  this  particular  case  was 
without  tragic  result,  Wilmer  himself  being  witness, 
though,  on  account  of  prejudice,  an  unwilling  wit- 
ness.     "B's  daughter,"  he  writes  three  weeks  later, 
"is  much  better — so  reported.    I  hear  of  champagne 
and  partridges  being  sent  her, , and  there  is  a  savor 
of  life  in  the  sound,  of  which  mercury  smacks  not." 
Mr.  Wilmer's  life  at  Brook  Hill  was  by  no  means 
that  of  a  country  parson.      Living  only  four  miles 
from  Richmond,  and  hard-by  a  much  used,  well-kept 
thoroughfare,  and  having  a  good  horse  and  being 
of  a  social  temperament,  he  thought  nothing  of  an 
almost  daily  ride  into  town,  sometimes  to  preach  on 
Sundays,  as  we  have  seen,  sometimes  on  matters  of 
business  connected  with  the  building  of  the  church, 
and  not  infrequently  to  exchange  experiences  with 
his  clerical   brethren   of   the   larger  parishes.       For 
nearly  an  entire  year  he  was  the  minister  in  charge 
of  Christ  Church,  giving  that  congregation  a  sermon 
every  Sunday  in  addition  to  his  work  at  "the  Brook." 
He  thus  became  as  well  known  in  Richmond  as  he 
was  at  "the  Brook,"  and  had  a  large  circle  of  ad- 
mirers and  friends  in  the  city. 

Among  his  especially  valued  friends,  whom  he 
met  so  often  in  the  city  and  less  frequently  at  his 
home,  were  Dr.  George  Woodbridge,  of  Monumen- 
tal Church,  and  Dr.  Joshua  Peterkin,  of  St.  James's. 

76 


EMMANUEL,  HENRICO  COUNTY 

Dr.  Woodbridge  had  been  a  West  Pointer  before 
taking  Holy  Orders,  and  had  contracted  habits  of 
such  precision  that  it  is  related  of  him  that  when  he 
had  been  in  the  ministry  several  years  and  a  friend 
said  to  him  as  he  was  robing  before  service:  "Doc- 
tor, don't  you  need  a  couple  of  pins?"  he  answered, 
"Thank  you,  but  I  have  two  that  I  used  at  West 
Point."  Dr.  Peterkin,  "Brother  Joshua,"  as  he  was 
affectionately  termed,  was  noteworthy  for  his  loving 
nature  and  his  spiritual-mindedness,  and  was  so  ten- 
der-hearted that  when  he  was  a  student  at  Princeton 
he  was  commonly  reported  to  have  sat  up  all  night 
to  nurse  a  sick  chicken.  An  anecdote  of  these  two 
and  Mr.  Wilmer  is  told  that  illustrates  finely  their 
respective  hal)its  of  expression.  They  were  carry- 
ing on  a  desultory  conversation  one  morning  wdien 
a  fourth  clergyman  rushed  into  the  room,  and  cried : 
"A  revival  has  broken  out  in  Galway !" 

"You  speak  as  if  it  were  small-pox,"  said  Mr.  Wil- 
mer. 

"I  thought  you  pronounced  it  'Gol-way,'  "  sug- 
gested  Dr.   Woodl)ridge. 

"God  be  praised  !"  ejaculated  Dr.  Peterkin. 

It  was  Mr.  Wilmer's  boast  that  ever  living  within 
his  income  he  never  had  to  borrow  money.  He  had 
been  at  Brook  Hill  less  than  a  year  when  at  one 
fell  swoop  he  borrowed  one  thousand  dollars  from 
John  Stewart.  The  debt  was  no  discredit  to  him. 
The  details  can  be  reconstructed  and  the  underlying 
motive  brought  clearly  into  view  from  Wilmer's  un- 
conscious revelation  in  two  letters  to  John  Stewart. 
Under    date    of    September    5th,    1859,    ^^^    wrote: 

77 


RICHARD  HOOKER  WILMER 

"Next  week  1  have  to  go  to  General  Brown's  sale. 
Everything  is  to  be  sold.  i  want  to  rescue  some 
of  the  family  servants  out  of  the  hands  of  the  traders, 
and  therefore  must  go  if  possible."  On  September 
20th  he  wrote:  "'riie  object  of  my  trip  was  accom- 
plished, and,  between  Air.  Meade  and  myself,  we  ar- 
ranged to  prevent  the  traders  from  getting  any  of 
the  servants.  They  were  all  provided  for,  and  to 
their  satisfaction,  which  relieved  us  from  much  solici- 
tude. You  were  kind  enough  to  offer  me  some  as- 
sistance in  the  premises.  In  the  course  of  thirty 
days  i  shall  be  in  a  position  to  discharge  every  liabil- 
ity which  1  have  assumed,  and  shall  only  need  $i,ooo 
for  the  present  emergency.  This  1  promised  to 
raise  this  week  if  possible.  It  will  be  in  lime  if  I 
can  get  it  by  Saturday  next.  I  feel  the  more  free 
in  asking  your  help  to  this  amount  because  I  am 
sure  that  you  will  candidly  tell  me  if  it  will  be  at  ail 
inconvenient.  I  will  not  fail  you  in  thirty  days.  I 
have  always  had  a  great  objection  to  increasing  this 
particular  kind  of  property,  but  we  can't  always  have 
our  'rathers,'  and  there  are  many  ways  in  which 
we  have  to  bear  each  other's  burdens.  White  Vir- 
ginians do  this  at  great  length."  It  is  needless  to 
add  that  the  amount  was  both  received  as  requested 
and  repaid  as  promised. 

Hard  labors  and  abundant  honors  came  into  Wil- 
mer's  life  almost  simultaneously,  and  united  to  make 
the  year  1S59  the  most  momentous  of  his  life  so  far. 
He  had  been  at  Emmanuel  only  a  few  months,  when 
the  Council  that  took  cognizance  of  the  birth  of  his 
congregation  elected  him  a  principal  deputy  to  tTie 

78 


EMMANUEL,  HENRICO  COUNTY 

coming  General  Convention  which  was  to  meet  in 
Richmond  in  the  fall.  A  few  weeks  later  William 
and  Mary  College  conferred  on  him  the  degree  of 
Doctor  in  Divinity.  The  impression  that  he  left 
upon  the  students  is  thus  described  by  one  of  them, 
who  was  afterwards  elected  as  his  Assistant  Bishop — 
Dr.  John  S.  Lindsay.  "I  remember  distinctly  the 
first  time  I  ever  heard  him  preach.  It  was  in  1859, 
in  the  chapel  of  William  and  Mary  College.  He 
was  then  a  comparatively  young  man — virile  and 
robust  in  his  teachings,  sympathetic,  hopeful,  and 
cheerful  in  the  tone  of  his  whole  life.  He  gave  me  at 
this  time. an  impression  of  practical  Christianity  that 
was  far  more  pleasing  than  the  hard,  dry  presenta- 
tion of  it  that  was  then  so  common  in  our  churches 
and  homes.  It  was  not  difficult  to  understand  the 
exceptional  influence  that  he  was  said  to  exert  over 
men.  He  w^as  intensely  human  and  splendidly 
manly." 

The  coming  of  the  General  Convention  was  a 
great  event  to  Richmond  and  to  Dr.  Wilmer.  The 
entertainment  of  the  Convention  tested  the  city's 
capacity.  There  were  not  so  many  hotels  then  as 
now,  and  though  houses  were  opened  wide  to  the 
deputies  much  contriving  was  necessary  that  noth- 
ing might  be  lacking.  Wilmer  was  on  the  Commit- 
tee on  Hospitality,  and  as  one  of  the  younger  clergy 
much  labor  devolved  upon  him.  He  did  not  take 
his  labors  very  much  to  heart,  though  he  did  all  in 
his  power.  Contemporary  letters  disclose  a  cheerful 
optimism  on  his  part,  not  shared,  perhaps,  by  its  ob- 
jects, as  to  the  nightly  comfort  of  those  delegates 

79 


RICHARD  HOOKER  WILMER 

who,  beds  having  Ijeen  filled,  must  sleep  on  cots  and 
lounges  every  night  of  the  Convention. 

When  the  Convention  came  \Vilmer  was  regular 
in  his  attendance.  Neither  forward  nor  guilty  of 
undue  diffidence,  but  with  the  unconscious  dignity 
of  a  man  sure  of  his  position,  he  took  a  prominent 
part  in  many  debates,  his  gift  of  repartee  standing 
him  in  good  stead  and  making  him  a  debater  to  be 
admired  and  an  antagonist  to  be  feared. 

Though  new  in  the  General  Convention  he  did 
not  hesitate  to  express  publicly,  but  in  a  characteris- 
tic way.  his  opinion  of  a  bishop  who  would  not  live 
in  his  diocese.  It  is  always  the  custom  of  the  Con- 
vention to  determine  the  place  for  the  next  triennial 
Convention  by  concurrent  resolution,  each  House 
adopting  the  place  with  the  proviso,  "the  House  of 

concurring."       When    the    Committee     on 

the  next  place  of  meeting  reported  in  favor  of 
Chicago  for  the  Convention  of  1862,  a  resolution 
was  introduced  accordingly,  "the  House  of  Bishops 
concurring."  At  this  particular  time  the  Church 
was  much  exercised  over  the  absenteeism  of  Bishop 
Whilehouse  of  Illinois,  who  had  continued  to  reside 
m  New  York  after  his  consecration,  who  could  not 
l>c  ])revailed  on  to  move  to  his  see  city  Chicago,  but 
who  could  not  be  reached  by  authority  because  no 
provision  had  ever  been  made  for  such  an  un- 
thought-of  condition.  When  the  resolution  to 
meet  in  Chicago  was  introduced.  Dr.  Wilmer  arose 
and  moved  to  amend  by  substituting  for  the  cus- 
tomary fornuila  the  words,  "the  Bishop  of  Illinois 
concurring;"  "for,"  he  said,  and  the  Convention  up- 

80 


EMMANUEL,  HENRICO  COUNTY 

roariously  agreed  with  him,  "we  ought  not  to  go 
into  a  man's  diocese  unless  we  are  certain  of  finding 
him  at  home." 

Open  sessions  of  the  House  of  Bishops  were  be- 
ginning to  be  desired,  even  then,  and  Dr.  Wihner 
and  his  friend  Dr.  WilHam  Adams,  of  Wisconsin, 
were  pitted  against  each  other  in  the  debate  that 
followed  a  proposal  to  have  the  sessions  of  the 
Bishops  made  as  open  as  those  of  the  Clerical  and 
Lay  Deputies.  Dr.  Adams  said  that,  as  a  fact  of 
history,  the  Bishops'  custom  of  sitting  with  closed 
doors  originated  "when  the  House  of  Bishops  was 
composed  of  three  very  venerable  and  respectable 
old  gentlemen,  who  sat  opposite  one  another  and 
talked  in  conversation  which  they  did  not  care  to 
have  reported  to  the  world;  and  having  commenced 
the  practice  they  found  it  convenient  to  keep  it  up." 
Dr.  Wilmer  said  very  little  about  the  origin  of  the 
custom,  but  contented  himself  with  defending  its 
expediency,  not  simply  on  grounds  of  individual 
reputation,  but  chiefly  because  it  conserved  the  soli- 
darity of  the  Episcopate.  But  in  order  to  save  the 
time  of  the  Convention  he  voluntarily  cut  short  his 
speech  at  risk  to  his  reputation  as  a  debater — and 
was  utterly  disgusted  to  find  himself  succeeded  by  a 
less  considerate  speaker,  who  consumed  one  hour 
and  forty-five  minutes  in  a  speech  remarkable  only 
for  its  length. 

This  Convention  was  noteworthy  for  many 
things — for  the  fact  that  it  was  the  last  before  the 
Civil  War,  for  the  all-pervading  good  spirit  of  its 
members,  for  the  extraordinary  intellectual  average 

8i 


RICHARD  HOOKER  WILMER 

of  its  laity,  of  whom,  for  example,  fourteen  were 
acting  Chief  Justices  of  their  respective  states;  and, 
more  than  all  else,  for  the  consecration  of  four 
Bishops  in  one  and  the  same  day  and  for  the  order 
promulgated  in  that  connection  by  the  Presiding 
Bishop.  The  Bishops-elect  of  Texas,  New  Jersey, 
Ohio  and  Minnesota — Gregg,  Odenheimer,  Bedell, 
and  Whipple — were  all  to  be  consecrated,  but  there 
was  no  church  in  Richmond  large  enough  to  con- 
tain the  crowds  that  would  throng  to  such  an  occa- 
sion. With  the  one  thought  in  his  mind  that  some 
place  must  be  found  spacious  enough  to  accommo- 
date the  public,  the  Presiding  Bishop,  without  con- 
sulting his  brother  bishops,  issued  an  order  appoint- 
ing Capitol  Square  as  the  place  of  the  consecration. 
When  this  order  was  made  known  to  the  deputies 
there  were  several  hours  of  strenuous  speech-mak- 
ing. Resolutions  were  introduced  from  various 
((uarters,  some  calling  on  the  House  of  Bishops  to 
nullify  the  Presiding  Bishop's  order,  others  reserv- 
ing nullification  to  the  House  of  Deputies  itself,  and 
a  few  mildly  remonstrant;  but  all  were  a  unit  in 
opposing  the  selection  of  a  jilace  of  such  nature  for 
the  celebration  of  the  Divine  Mysteries  while  so 
many  worthy  church  buildings  stood  ready  for 
reverent  worship.  The  House  of  Clerical  and  Lay 
Deputies  came  nearer  open  rebelhon  on  this  occasion 
than  at  any  other  time  in  its  existence.  Finally 
word  was  brought,  unofficially,  that  sufficient  repre- 
sentation had  been  made  to  the  Presiding  Bishop  to 
induce  him  to  change  the  order,  and  to  appoint  the 
consecrations    for    different    churches    at    the    same 

82 


EMMANUEL,  HENRICO  COUNTY 

hour.  Ill  this  manner  the  services  were  held,  and 
the  crowds  divided  and  accommodated — Odenheimer 
and  Bedell  being  consecrated  in  St.  Paul's  Church; 
Gregg  in  the  Monumental,  and  Whipple  in  St. 
James's. 

Athough  the  political  waves  were  already  running 
high  they  had  not  made  themselves  felt  in  the  Coun- 
cils of  the  Church.  The  Convention  was  marked 
by  mutual  courtesy  and  general  good-will,  and  so 
far  there  had  been  entire  absence  of  sectional  sense. 
But  one  day  toward  the  end  of  the  Convention  came 
news  of  John  Brown's  raid  on  Harper's  Ferry,  and 
the  attempt  to  stir  up  a  slave  insurrection  less  than 
two  hundred  miles  from  Richmond.  The  effect  of 
this  news  upon  the  Convention  was  like  that  of  a 
douche  of  cold  water.  The  genial  warmth  of  friend- 
ly intercourse  between  men  from  different  sections 
of  the  country  gave  way  to  the  most  perfunctory 
conversation.  Bosom  friends  dared  not  discuss  the 
all-absorbing  event  with  each  other,  unless  it  were 
a  Northern  man  with  a  Northern,  or  a  Southern 
man  with  a  Southern,  and,  indulging  in  conmion- 
places,  soon  found  the  speech  of  others  flat,  stale,  and 
unprofitable.  This  mutual  withdrawing  was  fought 
against  by  all  and  their  mutual  irritation  was  sup- 
pressed to  the  utmost  extent.  Only  one  incident  of 
the  official  proceedings  is  attributable  to  the  sudden 
cessation  of  good  feeling:  A  motion  to  call  upon 
the  Governor  of  the  State  in  a  body  was  defeated  by 
a  large  majority  of  the  clerical  and  lay  deputies, 
though  in  fact  many  of  them  did  attend  the  recep- 
tion unofficially.      But  the  sessions  of  the  Conven- 

83 


RICHARD  HOOKER  WILMER 

tion  became  more  and  more  hurried,  and  were  short- 
ened and  adjourned,  the  Northern  guests  in  South- 
ern households  and  their  Southern  hosts  each  breath- 
ing, as  they  separated,  a  sigh  of  rehef  that  the  ten- 
sion was  ended,  that,  at  least,  courtesy  and  hospi- 
tality had  not  been  outraged,  and  that  they  had 
parted  as  friends. 

The  Convention  having  adjourned  Dr.  Wilmer  re- 
turned with  new  zeal  to  the  completion  of  Emmanuel 
Church.  The  late  spring  of  i860  saw  everything 
in  readiness,  and  on  Friday,  July  8th,  the  church  was 
consecrated  by  Bishop  Johns.  The  Holy  Com- 
munion was  not  administered  until  the  following 
Sunday,  when  a  visiting  clergyman  preached.  The 
rector  preached  his  first  sermon  in  the  new  church 
on  July  15th,  his  te.xt  being  St.  Matthew  1:23 — 
"Emmanuel,  God  with  us."  And  on  the  same  day 
was  begun  a  Sunday  school  with  six  teachers  and 
forty-one  pupils. 

Of  course  North  and  South  did  not  immediately 
line  up  in  armed  opi)osition.  John  Brown  was  a 
symptom,  and  his  raid  was  one  of  a  long  series  of 
events  which  rc(|uircd  time  for  their  culmination, 
lughteen  months,  indeed,  passed  before  the  attempt- 
ed strengthening  and  consequent  bombardment  of 
Fort  Sumter  destroyed  the  last  hope  of  a  peaceful 
solution  of  existing  political  differences.  In  this 
time  the  true  patriots  on  both  sides  were  striving 
to  counteract  the  baleful  influence  of  fire  brands  on 
both  sides.  With  vain  hope  that  the  influence  of 
the  cooler-headed  would  prevail  constructive  minds 
went  forward  with  projects  whose  completion  was 

84 


EMMANUEL,  HENRICO  COUNTY 

based  on  the  averting  of  an  appeal  to  arms.  Diocesan 
and  inter-diocesan  institutions  were  undertaken. 
Endowment  subscriptions  were  made  in  immense 
sums.  Church  foundations  were  laid.  New  parishes 
were  organized,  and  still  greater  expenses  incurred. 

During  some  of  the  time  Dr.  Wilmer  himself  was 
thus  engaged.  Brook  Hill  did  not  seem  to  exhaust 
his  energy.  While  continuing  to  preach  to  the  poor 
of  that  community  he  was  also  actively  interested  in 
establishing  a  newly-projected  church  for  the 
Negroes  of  Richmond,  and  it  was  no  small  satisfac- 
tion to  him  to  see  the  undertaking  brought  to  a  suc- 
cessful conclusion,  which  was  also  the  commence- 
ment of  the  real  work,  in  the  organization  of  St. 
Philip's  Church. 

But  while  he  was  engaged  in  this  work  he  was 
not  blind  to  the  trend  of  events,  and  he  was  not  un- 
moved by  what  he  saw. 

His  mother's  father  had  been  a  major  in  the  army 
of  the  Revolution,  and  he  was  by  right  of  descent 
a  member  of  the  society  of  the  Cincinnati,  but  while 
he  took  a  wholesome  pride  in  his  ancestry  he  was 
indifferent  to  the  prestige  which  membership  in  the 
Cincinnati  gives  and  he  passed  it  over  to  a  younger 
brother  who  was  a  student  of  genealogy  and  whose 
interest  was  greater  than  his.  H^e  arranged,  how- 
ever, that  upon  his  brother's  death  the  membership 
should  pass  to  his  own  son.  He  was  proud  of  the 
nation  which  the  Revolution  had  made.  The  Wil- 
mers  were  men  of  the  Church;  but  as  was  common 
with  all  Southerners  of  their  class,  they  took  an 
interest  in  public  affairs.      By  his  marriage  he  came 

85 


RICHARD  HOOKER  WILMER 

into  a  greater  interest  in  politics.  The  Riveses  were 
generally  Whigs;  the  Cabells  generally  Democrats; 
and  Wilmer  had  embraced  the  Democratic  side 
which  was  better  suited  to  his  imcompromising  tem- 
perament and  direct  way  of  looking  at  things.  He 
had  spent  four  years  at  New  Haven  when  he  went 
to  Yale,  and  he  knew  many  Northern  men,  but  he 
had  never  lived  anywhere  but  in  N'irginia,  and  for 
a  short  time  in  North  Carolina;  all  of  his  family  for 
generations  back  had  lived  in  Virginia  and  Mary- 
land. His  wife's  father  was  a  Scotchman,  it  is  true, 
but  all  of  her  connections  on  her  mother's  side  were 
«  identified  with  the  history  and  upbuilding  of  Vir- 
ginia, and  all  of  them  were  slave  holders.  Wilmer 
believed  slavery  to  be  a  good  institution,  beneficial 
to  the  whites  because  it  made  them  accustomed  from 
childhood  to  responsibility  and  to  the  exercise  of 
powers  of  command;  beneficial  to  the  blacks  whom 
it  had  lifted  up  from  the  savage  state.  Nevertheless, 
beyond  a  few  slaves  who  came  to  him  as  part  of  his 
wife's  dower  he  owned  none,  except  the  few  whom 
he  bought  in  order  that  they  might  not  fall  into  the 
hands  of  traders.  His  father,  as  we  have  seen,  spent 
part  of  his  substance  in  buying  Negroes  in  order  to 
set  them  free;  back  of  his  father  were  other  Wilmers 
who  were  emancipationists.  But  he  lived  in  a  com- 
munity of  slaveholders  and  he  always  upheld  the 
institution.  He  was,  in  fact,  as  firmly  rooted  in  Vir- 
ginia as  one  of  her  owii  great  trees;  he  drew  his 
sustenance  from  her,  and  every  trouble  of  her's  was 
his  also. 

A  clergyman,  he  was  first  a  man.     A  man,  he  lived 

86 


EMMANUEL,  HENRICO  COUNTY 

in  sympathetic  touch  with  his  fellow-men.  He  was 
enthusiastic  and  aggressive  in  what  he  deemed  the 
right.  Deeply  and  even  passionately  involved  on 
the  side  of  his  State  and  his  section,  and  perceiving 
the  high  probability  of  war,  he  was  for  a  time  swept 
off  his  feet  by  his  conception  of  duty,  and  became 
captain  and  drillmaster  of  the  home-guard  raised  in 
his  neighborhood.  But  a  little  reflection,  the  inward 
working  of  that  time-element  for  which  he  was  to 
argue  so  eloquently  at  the  close  of  the  war,  cooled 
the  heat  of  his  fever  and  turned  his  activity  into 
more  legitimate  channels.  He  came  to  remember, 
so  he  tells  us,  that  the  Son  of  Man,  whose  servant 
he  was,  "came  not  to  destroy  men's  lives,  but  to  save 
them,"  and  that  "the  servant  must  be  as  his  Lord." 
He  resigned  his  ^captaincy  and  contented  himself 
with  ministering  to  the  sick  and  wounded.  But 
throughout  the  conflict,  which  he  always  regarded 
as  a  war  of  defence  and  not  of  aggression  on  the 
part  of  the  South,  he  publicly  and  strenuously  urged 
men  to  the  tented  field,  taking  as  his  warranty  for 
going  thus  far  the  command  of  the  Lord  as  recorded 
in  the  tenth  chapter  of  the  book  of  Numbers,  that  the 
priests  should  blow  the  silver  trumpets  summoning 
the  tribes  of  the  Lord  to  arms  in  case  the  land  was 
invaded. 

His  mind  as  to  current  matters  is  well  disclosed 
in  a  letter  written  to  a  friend  on  March  25th,  1861. 
The  Virginia  Assembly  had  striven  hard  to  secure 
a  peaceful  solution  of  the  momentous  matters  at 
stake,  and  had  failed.  Thereupon  a  Convention  had 
been     called     to     discuss  the  State's     duty     in    the 

87 


RICHARD  HOOKER  WIOIER 

premises,  and  this  Convention  had  now  been  in  ses- 
sion several  weeks.  There  was  the  widest  diver- 
gence of  views  among  the  members,  and  the  most 
ample  opportunity  was  given  every  one  to  set  forth 
his  own  opinion.  Wilmer  was  in  daily  attendance 
as  a  listener  to  the  debates.  He  was  strongly  op- 
posed to  the  majority  who  were  striving  against 
secession  and  who  strove  successfully  until,  hos- 
tilities having  actually  begun  and  the  President 
being  about  to  call  for  volunteers,  it  was  necessary 
cither  to  secede  or  to  fight  against  their  own  sec- 
tion : 

"Dear  Charles — I  am  there.  Of  course.  And  as 
to  secessionism — I  am  there,  of  course.  And  as  to 
Jeff  Davis,  I  am  there,  too — saving  one  speech  of 
his  in  which  he  speaks  of  marching  into  the  North. 
There  he  speaks  as  a  fool.  At  that  point  he  J^lun- 
ders.  The  game  cock  will  fight  anywhere.  The  dung 
hill  rooster  will  fight  just  as  well  as  long  as  he  is  on 
his  own  ground.  A  raid  into  the  North,  or  into 
Washiuiiton,  would  rouse  the  old  mettle  of  the 
North.  I  know  them  well.  They  will  not  come 
here;  but  woe  to  that  Southern  army  that  goes  there. 

"The  question  of  secession,  and  of  a  Southern 
Confederacy,  and  of  Virginia's  duty,  is  to  me,  and 
has  been  from  the  first,  as  clear  as  the  noonday.  And 
ultimately  Virginia  will  be  there;  but  now  she  knows 
it  not.  The  majority  report  lays  down  principles 
which  lead  to  but  one  conclusion — I  have  several 
unpublished  volumes  on  this  .question,  and  I  must 
stop." 

But  he  could  not  stop.     After  a  few  paragraphs 

88 


EMMANUEL,  HENRICO  COUNTY 

on  domestic  details  he  began  again:  "You  ought 
to  run  on  and  hear  some  of  the  guns  at  the  Conven- 
tion. Summers  and  Baldwin  made  good  legal  argu- 
ments, but  there  was  no  bottom  to  them.  They  never 
touched  the  farthest  verge  of  statesmanship.  *  * 
*  *  -"''I  linger  here  in  Vn-ginia,  but  should  Vir- 
ginia make  her  election  to  seek  shelter  under  the 
wings  of  the  Black  Republican  Party  (which  I  do  not 
believe)  I  must  be  a  secessionist,  not  only  per  se  but 
per  scsc. 

"The  Convention  will  settle  down  upon  ultimates, 
which  the  North  will  not  concede;  and  then  she  will 
slide.  Should  war  take  place  afTairs  will  be  precipi- 
tated. Secession  at  present  would  bring  a  revolu- 
tion in  our  midst.  'Give  that  horse  time.  All  that 
horse  wants  is  time.'  " 

And  when  he  sought  to  confine  other  paragraphs 
of  the  same  letter  to  the  topics  of  personal  and 
family  health  and  parish  prosperity,  he  ever  reverted 
to  the  one  all-absorbing  theme :  "We  have  been 
remarkably  well  this  winter.  Your  servant  is  in 
good  health,  barring  just  now  a  suffocating  cold. 
My  wife  looks  as  young  as  when  I  wooed  her.  The 
children  are  hearty.  Mammy  Rose  is  rejoicing  in 
the  baby,  and  the  lines  are  in  pleasant  places.  The 
church  is  flourishing;  men  seeking  for  truth,  and 
some  finding  it;  and  the  members  walking  as  chil- 
dren of  light.  I  preach  all  day  without  caving  in, 
and  never  know  anything,  ordinarily,  of  ancient  in- 
firmities. God  is  gracious  and  good  to  me,  my 
friend;  and  his  blessing  enables  me  to  stand  the 
heaviest  affliction  of  the  hour — the  rule  of  Lincoln. 

89 


RICHARD  HOOKER  WILMER 

And  yet  I  feel  enlargement  to  pray  for  him.  Should 
he  get  to  coercing  Southern  brothers  and  shedding 
Southern  blood  my  prayers  must  be  for  my  own 
kindred." 

And  now  came  the  call  to  Dr.  W'ilmer  to  go  up 
higher.  Nicholas  Hamncr  Cobbs,  Bishop  of  Ala- 
bama, had  died  in  January  1861,  on  the  day  of  Ala- 
bama's secession  from  the  Union,  and  the  diocese 
had  in  May  of  the  same  year  attempted  to  elect  his 
successor.  It  is  pretty  certain  that  Dr.  W'ilmer  was 
already  well-known  to  the  clergy  and  better  in- 
formed laymen  of  the  diocese,  not  only  through  ac- 
quaintance made  at  the  General  Convention  and 
through  general  reputation,  especially  for  the  work 
done  at  Brook  Hill,  but  also  through  the  personal 
commendation, of  his  old-time  friend,  Bishop  Cobbs. 
And  it  is  not  imjirobablc  that  he  came  to  the 
Bishop's  mind  as  quite  as  likely  to  be  a  fit  successor 
to  him  in  the  episcopal  office  as  he  had  proved 
himself  to  be  in  various  rectorships.  ,  But  the  Bishop 
had  other  well-known  friends,  too,  whom  he  had 
deemed  worthy  of  the  episcopal  office  and  to  whom 
he  thought  the  bishopric  of  Alabama  especially  fit- 
ting. Chief  among  these  was  Henry  C.  Lay,  whom 
he  had  expressed  the  wish  to  have  as  his  successor. 
Dr.  Lay  was  then  Missionary  Bishop  of  the  South- 
west, but  he  had  been  rector  of  the  Church  of  the 
Nativity,  Huntsvillc.  Alabama,  and  the  foremost 
clergyman  of  the  diocese.  Clerical  jealousy  on  the 
part  of  some  of  his  brethren  and  the  premature  as- 
sumption of  magisterial  authority  on  his  own  had 
combined  to  eclipse  rare  powers  of  administration 

90 


EMMANUEL,  HENRICO  COUNTY 

and  leadership,  and  the  cleri,^y  had  refused  to 
nominate  him  to  the  laity,  though  the  laity  would 
have  ratified  the  choice  by  acclamation.  The  Con- 
vention had  deadlocked  on  the  name  of  Dr.  William 
Pinckney  of  Maryland,  whom  the  laity  rejected  part- 
ly because  he  had  been  presented  instead  of  the  man 
they  wanted,  and  partly  because  of  his  supposed  po- 
litical views.  Then  the  Convention  had  adjourned 
until  November,  with  the  intention  of  practically 
agreeing  on  some  one  before  they  came  together 
again.  Much  correspondence  followed,  and  it  soon 
developed  that  Dr.  Wilmer  was  the  choice  of  a  large 
majority  of  both  clergy  .  and  laity.  Accordingly, 
when  the  Convention  reassembled,  he  was  unani- 
mously elected  Bishop  of  Alabama,  on  the  first 
ballot.  The  election  occurred  on  November  21st, 
1861. 

The  committee  to  notify  Dr.  Wilmer  of  his  elec- 
tion consisted  of  the  Reverend  Messrs.  F.  R.  Han- 
son, J.  A.  Massey,  and  J.  H.  Ticknor,  and  Messrs. 
J.  D.  Phelan,  H.  L.  Alison,  and  H.  A.  Tayloe.  Dr. 
Wilmer  immediately  accepted  the  election,  and  on 
November  27th  wrote  to  Bishop  Meade:  "I  have 
neither  expected  nor  sought  it.  I  accept  it  with 
many  misgivings  and  many  fears.  If  I  knew  more 
of  what  I  have  to  encounter,  I  would,  I  doubt  not, 
fear  more  than  I  do." 

It  was  easy  for  Wilmer  to  accept  the  election,  but 
it  was  not  easy  for  him  to  be  made  bishop.  Political 
and  ecclesiastical  changes  were  occurring  that  caused 
serious  delay  and  embarrassment  in  the  matter  of 
his  consecration.      One  by  one,  the  Southern  States, 

91 


RICHARD  HOOKER  WILMER 

acting  in  their  sovereign  capacity,  had  withdrawn 
from  the  Union,  and  one  by  one  the  churches  in 
these  respective  nations  had  resumed  their  original 
status  as  independent,  autonomous  churches.  All 
acknowledged  themselves  still  as  "Protestant  Epis- 
copal." but  all  denied  that  they  were  "in  the  United 
States  of  America."  As  each  State  stood  and  must 
stand  alone  until  a  new  union  should  be  formed,  so 
each  Church  stood  and  must  stand  alone  until  a  new 
compact  should  be  made.  As  soon  as  the  States 
were  organized  into  "The  Confederate  States  oi 
America,"  steps  were  taken  to  organize  "The  Prot- 
estant Episcopal  Church  in  the  Confederate  States 
of  America."  But  these  steps  took  time,  requiring  a 
call  for  a  Primary  Convention,  its  meeting  on  July 
3rd,  a  new  Convention  on  October  i6th,  and  a 
reference  of  the  Constitution  then  adopted  to  the 
several  dioceses  for  their  ratification.  The  General 
Council  of  this  Church  was  to  meet  in  Augusta, 
Georgia,  in  November,  1862.  Thus  when  Alabama 
elected  her  Bishop  the  constitutional  law  of  the 
Church  was  still  in  solution,  and,  therefore,  there 
was  no  provision  for  the  due  and  proper  consecra- 
tion of  a  bishop. 

At  least,  so  thought  Bishop  Atkinson,  of  North 
Carolina,  whom  Dr.  Wilmer  had  asked  to  be  one 
of  his  consecrators,  and  who  said,  writing  to  Bishop 
Meade,  from  Wilmington,  North  Carolina,  on  Janu- 
ary 6th,  1862:  "Wilmer  has  expressed  to  me  the 
wish  that  I  should  act  as  one  of  his  consecrators,  a 
duty  which  I  would  gladly  perform,  both  because  of 
our  long-standing  friendship  and  because  of  my  high 

92 


EMMANUEL,  HENRICO  COUNTY 

estimate  of  his  qualifications  for  the  office  about  to 
be  conferred  on  him.  But  as  the  Canons  of  the 
Church  in  the  United  States  are  not  to  be  followed, 
and  as  the  Church  in  the  Confederate  States  has 
adopted  no  Canons,  I  see  no  law  or  rule  by  which 
he  is  to  be  consecrated,  and  I  must  decline  to  take 
part  in  what  seems  to  me  an  irregular  transaction. 
If  there  were  a  necessity  for  its  being  done  at 
present  that  necessity  might  stand  in  the  place  of 
law.  But  I  see  no  such  necessity,  as  Canons  can  and 
will  be  passed  at  our  next  meeting,  and  the  Diocese 
might  in  the  meantime  be  served  by  the  neighboring 
Bishops.  I  must  therefore  reluctantly  request  not 
to  be  named  one  of  his  consecrators."  In  this  sen- 
timent Bishop  Otey,  of  Tennessee,  concurred. 

The  other  Southern  Bishops  were  little  concerned 
about  canonical  preciseness.  It  seemed  to  them  that 
the  consent  of  a  majority  of  the  Bishops  and  Stand- 
ing Committees  in  the  Confederate  States  w-as  all 
that  was  necessary,  and  this  had  already  been  ob- 
tained. There  w-as  no  other  ecclesiastical  ground 
upon  which  objection  to  further  procedure  would  be 
entertained  by  the  straitest  precisian  of  them,  and 
they  determined  to  act  as  if  the  former  Canons  were 
used  with  local  adaptation. 

But  the  gathering  of  three  Bishops  at  any  one 
point  was  rendered  difificult  by  the  unsettled  con- 
dition of  the  country.  Alabama  had  asked  that  her 
new  Bishop  should  be  consecrated  in  Mobile,  and  a 
fruitless  attempt  was  made  to  accede  to  her  request. 
The  Presiding  Bishop,  ]\Ieade  of  Virginia,  was  fast 
verging  to  the  grave,   and  could  not   go  far  from 

93 


RICHARD  HOOKER  WILMER 

home.  Green,  of  Mississippi,  was  in  a  condition 
physically  that  precluded  travel.  Elliott,  of  Georgia, 
could  not  be  expected  to  leave  Savannah  while  it 
was  menaced  by  the  enemy;  and  the  same  reason 
prevented  Johns,  Assistant  Bishop  of  Virginia, 
from  going  a  great  distance  from  Norfolk. 
Lay,  of  Arkansas,  could  not  be  reached  promptly 
at  Little  Rock.  The  blindness  of  Davis,  of  South 
Carolina,  obviously  incapacitated  him.  Polk,  of 
Louisiana,  had  donned  the  (jeneral's  uniform.  And 
since  .Atkinson  and  Otey  would  have  nothing  to  do 
with  it.  the  consecration  in  Mobile,  or  in  any  other 
place  distant  from  Virginia,  was  out  of  the  question. 
Richmond  was  the  only  place  where  the  service  could 
be  arranged  for  with  any  reasonable  hope  of  carrying 
it  out. 

Some  months  were  consumed  in  finding  out  these 
troubles  and  in  making  other  necessary  arrange- 
ments. The  period  of  waiting  was  a  period  of  embar- 
rassment and  grief  to  the  bishop-elect.  The  grief 
was  at  the  death  of  his  infant  son,  John  Stewart,  who, 
I  torn  in  i860,  died  a  few  weeks  before  the  consecra- 
tion and  was  buried  hard  by  Enunanuel  Church.  The 
embarrassment  was  due  to  the  fact  that  anticipating 
an  earlier  consecration  he  had  set  January  ist  as  the 
termination  of  his  rectorship,  and  was  for  two  months 
thereafter  without  work  or  means  that  he  could 
with  good  conscience  call  his  own. 

A  part  of  this  time  he  spent  in  breaking  in  his 
friend.  Dr.  Cornelius  Walker,  as  rector  of  Emmanuel. 
Dr.  Walker  was  a  refugee  from  Alexandria,  also 
having  no  parish,  but  unlike  his  friend  Wilmer,  hav- 

94 


EMMANUEL,  HENRICO  COUNTY 

ing  no  prospective  diocese  as  salve.  He  did  have  a 
large  family.  He  happened  to  be  in  the  neighbor- 
hood when  the  election  of  Alabama  came  to  Wilmer, 
and  the  outgoing  rector  at  once  settled  upon  him 
as  his  successor.  He  was  not  entirely  a  stranger  to 
the  congregation,  having  preached  to  them  once  or 
twice  at  Wilmer's  request  while  they  were  worship- 
ing in  the  old  schoolhouse.  The  choice  of  Walker 
suited  John  Stewart,  and  the  two  carried  the  vestry. 
"It  is  with  very  peculiarly  grateful  recollection," 
writes  Dr.  Walker,  "that  I  go  back,  and  recall  the 
various  indications  of  Bishop  Wilmer's  kindness  and 
sympathy.  A  day  or  two  after  the  election  he  went 
around  with  me  to  the  houses  of  various  parish- 
ioners near,  as  a  means  of  introduction.  It  was  a 
bright,  pleasant  day.  I  was  thus  brought  into 
acquaintanceship  and  communication  with  several  of 
my  future  charge.  Among  them  were  two 
brothers,  very  plain  working  men,  who  had  been 
brought  by  their  first  rector  into  the  Church.  Their 
names  were  Apostolic — they  were  Simon  Peter  and 
Andrew  his  brother.  Many  more  of  this  class  w^ere 
brought  into  the  Church  through  his  influence,  and 
when  I  went  to  the  Church  within  the  last  twelve 
months  (1904)  found  more  than  one  of  them  there 
with  their  children  and  grandchildren." 

This  was  during  the  closing  weeks  of  December. 
On  the  first  of  January  he  vacated  the  rectory  and 
turned  over  the  parish  house  to  his  successor. 
During  the  next  two  months,  while  waiting  for  con- 
secration, his  residence  was  in  Richmond. 

All  his   household  furniture,   and  his  books  and 

95 


RICHARD  HOOKER  WILMER 

sermons,  save  a  few  of  the  latter  needed  for  imme- 
diate use,  were  stored  in  a  warehouse  until  the  re- 
turn of  peace  should  make  it  possible  to  carry  them 
to  Alabama.  Before  that  time  came  Richmond  fell, 
the  city  was  burned,  and  all  the  Bishop's  effects  were 
destroyed. 

The  consecration  took  place  in  St.  Paul's  Church. 
Richmond,  on  March  6th,  1862,  Bishop  Meade  pre- 
sidin.^,  and  Bishops  Johns  and  Elliott  joining  in  the 
Laying-on-of-hands.  This  was  Bishop  Meade's  last 
public  act.  He  returned  from  the  Church  to  his 
death-bed. 


CHAPTER  VI 

"THE    CONFEDERATE    BISHOP" 

Bishop  Wilmer  lost  no  time  in  entering  upon  his 
episcopal  duties.  Ten  days  after  the  consecration  he 
was  preaching  his  first  sermon  in  his  new  field,  in 
St.  John's,  Montgomery  (March  i6th,  the  second 
Sunday  in  Lent).  Throughout  the  Lenten  season  he 
worked  in  Mobile.  In  that  city  alone  he  confirmed 
ninety  persons,  and  within  six  weeks  he  had  visited 
nearly  the  whole  southern  portion  of  his  diocese. 

On  May  ist  the  Diocesan  Convention  met  in 
Christ  Church,  Mobile,  and  the  Bishop  preached 
the  opening  sermon  on  a  favorite  text:  "Righteous- 
ness exalteth  a  nation,  but  sin  is  a  reproach  to  any 
people."  The  congregation  was  large,  but  the 
Convention  numbered  only  fifteen  clergymen  and 
nineteen  laymen.  In  size  it  contrasted  pitifully  with 
the  larger  Conventions  of  Old  Virginia  which  the 
Bishop  had  taken  as  the  norm  of  diocesan  gather- 
ings everywhere.  But  among  its  members  were  men 
that  soon  made  the  Bishop  forget  size,  for  they 
grappled  his  heart  with  bonds  of  steel — of  the  clergy, 
Thomas  J.  Beard,  J.  A.  Massey,  F.  R.  Hanson,  and 
Stephen  Uriah  Smith,  and  of  the  laity  R.  S.  Bunker 
and  H.  A.  Schroeder  of  Mobile,  Samuel  G.  Jones, 
of  Montgomery,  and  H.  A.  Tayloe  of  Macon. 

97 


RICHARD  HOOKER  WILMER 

Scarcely  had  the  Bishop  set  foot  on  the  soil  of 
Alabama  when  he  was  called  upon  to  decide  some 
questions  which  tested  his  caliber  and  whose  solution 
manifested  the  clear-headedness  for  which  he  was 
ever  after  famous. 

Just  as  he  arrived  in  Alabama  it  was  becoming 
highly  probable  that  Federal  troops  would  soon  oc- 
cupy most  of  the  State.  When  these  troops  took 
possession  of  towns  where  there  were  congregations 
of  the  Protestant  Episcopal  Church  they  would  find 
a  body  of  Christians  praying  in  due  course  of  their 
public  worship  for  the  President  of  the  Confederate 
States.  In  such  cases  it  was  certain  that  trouble 
would  ensue  of  such  sort  as  had  already  been  expe- 
rienced in  \^irginia,  where  Dr.  Wingfield  of  Ports- 
mouth had  been  condemned  to  the  chain-gang  for 
not  praying  for  the  President  of  the  United  States, 
and  in  Louisiana,  where  General  Butler  had,  in 
(icncral  Orders,  stated  that  the  omission  in  the 
Protestant  Episcopal  churches  of  New  Orleans  of 
the  prayer  for  the  President  of  the  United  States 
would  be  regarded  as  evidence  of  hostility  to  the 
Government  of  the  United  States  and  would  render 
the  offender  subject  to  pains  and  penalties.  In  the 
face  of  approaching  similar  conditions  the  clergy  of 
Alabama  asked  their  Bishop  for  his  Godly  counsel 
in  the  premises. 

The  Bishop's  reply  was  clear  and  decided :  The 
Diocese  of  Alabama,  an  autonomous  Church,  had 
severed  her  connection  with  the  Church  in  the 
United  States,  which  was  now  a  foreign  Church. 
She    had    recognized    the    facts    of    geography    as 

98 


THE  CONFEDERATE  BISHOP 

stated  by  a  sovereign  and  independent  power,  and, 
gladly  acquiescing,  had  for  more  than  a  year  used  the 
prayer  for  "those  in  Civil  authority"  not  in  a  foreign 
country,  but  in  the  "Confederate  States."  The 
mere  occupation  of  the  soil  by  an  invading  force 
could  not  absolve  Churchmen  from  their  allegiance 
to  the  Government  of  their  deliberate  choice,  for 
while  armed  soldiery  might  occasionally  exercise 
power  over  them  only  the  Confederate  Government 
exercised  authority.  And  finally,  to  allow  military 
force  to  overawe  them  into  praying  for  a  govern- 
ment which  they  did  not  acknowledge  to  be  their 
rightly  constituted  government  would  be  to  be 
guilty  of  untruthfulness  and  dishonor. 

Would  the  Bishop,  then,  advise  the  clergy  to  use 
the  prayer  for  the  President  of  the  Confederate 
States  in  the  very  teeth  of  the  Federal  soldiery? 

By  no  means.  Doing  this  they  would  certainly 
bring  about  scandalous  scenes  in  the  sanctuary,  and 
invite  even  physical  violence  in  the  House  of  God. 
Their  course  would  be :  First,  to  inquire  of  the  com- 
manding ofificer  whether  he  meant  to  interfere  with 
public  worship.  Then,  if  he  answered  that  he  would 
cither  compel  the  prayer  for  the  President  of  the 
United  States  to  be  used  or  all  reference  to  civil 
authority  to  be  omitted,  to  close  the  church,  throw- 
ing the  odium  and  responsibility  of  suspending  the 
public  worship  of  God  upon  those  who  sought  to 
establish  a  state  religion  after  their  own  imaginings. 

Nearly  all  the  clergy  followed  the  course  thus 
prescribed.  One  minister,  however,  insisted  upon 
keeping  his  church  open,  and  with  precisely  the  re- 

99 


RICHARD  HOOKER  WILMER 

suit  that  Bishop  Wihiier  had  foreseen.  When,  in 
the  course  of  the  service,  he  was  quietly  passing 
from  the  "Collect  for  Grace"  straight  on  to  the 
Litany,  intending  to  omit  all  reference  to  Presidents, 
and  thinking  thus  to  solve  the  difficulty  in  his  own 
way,  the  Federal  officer  commanding,  who  had  come 
to  worship  God,  arose  in  the  congregation  and 
presented  in  no  uncertain  tone  the  alternatives  of 
immediate  use  of  the  Prayer  for  the  President  of  the 
United  States  or  immediate  cessation  of  the  service. 
The  poor  clergyman  lost  his  head  completely  and 
instantly  chose  the  former  alternative.  Apologetical- 
ly explaining  his  course  to  the  Bishop  shortly  after- 
wards, he  said,  "I  used  the  prayer,  it  is  true,  but 
under  protest." 

The  Bishop's  answer  was  grim:  *T  leave  it  for 
others  to  determine  the  status  before  God  of  a 
prayer  made  under  protest." 

The  enforced  closing  of  the  Churches  was  not, 
however,  immediate,  and  was  never  universal.  For 
more  than  a  year  subsequently,  only  the  Tennessee 
Valley  was  even  temporarily  in  the  hands  of  the 
Federal  soldiers,  and  parish  work  went  on  elsewhere 
without  undue  incident. 

While  lines  of  communication  were  still  unbroken, 
and  facilities  for  travel  were  still  fairly  good,  the 
General  Council  of  the  Church  in  the  Confederate 
States  of  America  met  in  Augusta,  Georgia,  'Novem- 
ber 1 2th,  1862,  and  remained  in  session  ten  days.  To 
the  young  Bishop  of  Alabama  it  was  refreshment  and 
new  strength  to  meet  in  official  communication  wath 
his  elder  brethren  of  the  Episcopate,  and  to  receive 

100 


THE  CONFEDERATE  BISHOP 

the  publicly  marked  assurance  of  the  Council  that 
the  accomplished  fact  of  his  consecration  ecHpsed 
forever,  in  the  mind  of  all  who  had  objected  to  his 
consecration,  any  and  every  question  of  its  validity 
and  of  his  authority. 

At  the  opening  service  three  bishops  who  were 
the  most  ardent  advocates  of  diocesan  rights — El- 
liott,  Johns,   and   Wilmer — administered   the    Holy 
Communion.     Wilmer  was  made  temporary  Secre- 
tary of  the  House  of  Bishops,  and  later  was  a  mem- 
ber of  the  Committees  on  Amendments  of  the  Con- 
stitution  and   Foreign   Missions,   besides  being   as- 
signed to  much  special  committee  work.     He  took 
active  part  in  all  discussions,   and  proved  himself, 
though  progressive,  strongly  opposed  to  all  change 
merely  for  the  sake  of  change  or  for  any  other  reason 
than  principle  or  demonstrable  need.      His  position 
was  generally  based  on  the  rule,  "Let  the  ancient 
custom  prevail,"  but  reasonableness  as  well  as  antiq- 
uity claimed   his   allegiance.     When,    for    example, 
the  proposition  was  made  to  eliminate  "Protestant 
Episcopal"  from  the  title  of  the  Church  and  substi- 
tute therefor  "Holy  Catholic,"  he  opposed  the  move- 
ment for  change  solely  on  the  ground  that  a  branch 
of  the  Church  could  not  properly  claim  for  itself  what 
was  true  only  of  the  whole,  and  that  the  Protestant 
Episcopal  Church  could  not  consistently  usurp  to  it- 
self what  it  denied  to  the  Roman  Church. 

The  House  of  Bishops  consisted  of  only  eleven 
members.  So  did  the  original  college  of  Apostles. 
And  the  spirit  which  pervaded  this  modern  gathering 
was  the  self-same  spirit  that  presided  in  the  councils 

lOI 


RICHARD  HOOKER  WILMER 

of  the  blessed  Apostles.  Bishop  Wilmer  often  spoke 
of  its  breadth  of  vision,  its  atmosphere  of  love,  its 
unquestioning  hopefulness  as  something  beyond  the 
experience  of  ordinary  assemblies  of  men.  He  at- 
tributed these  characteristics  largely,  under  God,  to 
the  presidency  of  Bishop  Elliott  of  Georgia,  the 
senior  Bishop  since  Meade's  death,  a  Bishop  "unto 
whom  utterance  had  been  given,  who  sent  forth  to 
the  world  those  words  of  peace  and  good  will  which 
sounded  so  sweet  amid  the  din  of  war." 

These  words  were  the  Pastoral  Letter  of  the 
House  of  Bishops,  which  was  written  by  Elliott,  and 
which,  in  at  least  two  particulars,  gave  immediate 
direction  to  the  activities  of  the  Bishop  of  Alabama. 
These  particulars  were :  The  religious  instruction 
of  the  Negroes,  and  spiritual  ministration  to  sol- 
diers in  camp  and  hospital. 

The  former  was  by  far  the  most  prominent  topic 
in  the  Pastoral,  for  the  instruction  of  the  Negroes 
was,  in  the  Bishop's  words,  "next  to  her  own  expan- 
sion, the  Church's  greatest  work  in  these  Confeder- 
ate States.  Not  only  our  spiritual  l)ut  our  national 
life  is  wrapped  up  in  their  welfare.  With  them  we 
stand  or  fall,  and  God  will  not  permit  us  to  be  sepa- 
rated in  interest  or  fortune.  The  time  has  come 
when  the  Church  should  press  more  urgently  than 
she  has  hitherto  done  upon  her  laity  the  solemn  fact 
that  the  slaves  of  the  South  are  not  merely  so  much 
property,  but  are  a  sacred  trust  committed  to  us,  as 
a  people,  to  be  prepared  for  the  work  which  God 
may  have  for  them  to  do,  in  the  future.  While  un- 
der this  tutelage  He  freely  gives  to  us  their  labor, 

1 02 


THE  CONFEDERATE  BISHOP 

but  expects  us  to  give  back  to  them  that  reHgious 
and  moral  instruction  which  is  to  elevate  them  in 
the  scale  of  being.  It  is  likewise  the  duty  of  the 
Church  to  press  upon  the  masters  of  the  country 
their  obligations,  as  Christian  men,  so  to  arrange 
this  institution  as  not  to  necessitate  the  violation  of 
those  sacred  relations  which  God  has  created,  and 
which  man  cannot,  consistently  with  Christian  duty, 
annul.  The  systems  of  labor  which  prevail  in 
Europe,  and  which  are,  in  many  respects,  more 
severe  than  ours,  are  so  arranged  as  to  prevent  all 
necessity  for  the  separation  of  parents  and  children 
and  of  husbands  and  wives;  and  a  very  little  care 
upon  our  part  would  rid  the  system  upon  which  we 
are  about  to  plant  our  national  life  of  these  un- 
christian features.  It  belongs  especially  to  the  Epis- 
copal Church  to  urge  a  proper  teaching  upon  this 
subject,  for  in  her  fold  and  in  her  congregations  are 
to  be  found  a  very  large  proportion  of  the  great 
slave-holders  of  the  country.  We  rejoice  to  be  able 
to  say  that  the  public  sentiment  is  rapidly  becoming 
sound  upon  this  subject,  and  that  the  Legislatures  of 
several  of  the  Confederate  States  have  already 
taken  steps  towards  this  consummation.  Hitherto 
have  we  been  hindered  by  the  pressure  of  abolition- 
ism; now  that  we  have  thrown  off  from  us  that  hate- 
ful and  infidel  pestilence,  we  should  prove  to  the 
world  that  we  are  faithful  to  our  trust,  and  the 
Church  should  lead  the  hosts  of  the  Lord  in  this 
work  of  justice  and  mercy."  Strong  words  and 
righteous,  even  if  marred  in  their  otherwise  perfect 
spirit  by  one  strong  dash  of  partisan  bitterness. 

103 


RICHARD  HOOKER  WILMER 

The  duty  of  giving  spiritual  ministration  to  the 
soldiers  was  urged  more  briefly,  but  quite  as  strong- 
ly: "Far  be  it  from  us  to  say  that  there  has  been 
no  Christian  supervision  of  our  soldiers,  and  we 
cheerfully  concede  all  praise  and  thanks  to  those 
who  have  done  their  duty  through  danger  and  priva- 
tion; Init  we  must  aflirm  that  there  is  still  a  great  lack 
of  service  on  the  Church's  part  in  this  connection. 
From  whatever  cause  it  has  arisen,  whether  from  the 
scarcity  of  clergymen,  or  from  unwillingness  to  bear 
the  hardships  of  the  soldiers'  life,  we  are  obliged  to 
acknowledge  that  we  have  been  unable  to  find  men 
who  were  willing  to  answer  this  call  and  to  take  their 
places,  not  as  soldiers  fighting  for  their  country,  but 
as  soldiers  fighting  for  the  victory  of  Christ  over  sin 
and  death.  In  the  opinion  of  the  House  of  Bishops, 
no  position  is  more  suited,  at  this  moment,  to  the  true 
spirit  of  Christ  and  His  Church,  than  that  of  a  faith- 
ful minister  of  the  grace  of  God  and  of  the  Sacra- 
ments of  the  Church  to  the  soldiers  in  llic  field,  or  in 
the  hospital;  and  we  would  urge  it  upon  these  minis- 
ters who  have  been  exiled  from  their  parishes,  to 
enter  upon  this  work  as  their  present  duty,  trusting 
for  support  to  Him  who  has  said:  'I  will  never  leave 
thee  nor  forsake  thee.'  " 

To  these  two  recommendations  must  be  referred 
the  activity  of  Bishop  Wilmer  along  these  lines 
when  he  went  back  home  late  in  November.  In 
every  way  possible  be  encouraged  the  religious  in- 
struction of  the  Negro.  In  the  Black  Belt  numerous 
chapels  were  erected  by  the  planters  for  their  slaves. 
Stickney,    Cushman,    Jarratt,    Christian,    and    other 

104 


THE  CONFEDERATE  BISHOP 

devoted  presbyters  of  the  Diocese  of  Alabama  gave 
themselves  almost  exclusively  to  ministering  to  the 
Negro.  Stickney  alone  cared  for  the  slaves  on  eight 
large  plantations  in  Marengo  County  and  "the  Cane- 
brake,"  preaching,  baptizing,  communicating,  organ- 
izing into  classes  and  watchmen,  imposing  penance 
on  evil-livers,  and  in  many  ways  reverting  to  early 
ecclesiastical  discipline  in  his  earnest  but,  in  the  out- 
come, vain  attempt  to  impress  upon  this  volatile  peo- 
ple the  indissolubility  of  morality  and  religion. 
Menaeos  ministered  to  five  such  congregations  just 
north  of  Stickney's  field,  and  on  a  single  occasion 
baptized  twenty-five  Negro  children.  In  the  first 
year  of  his  episcopate  the  Bishop  confirmed  forty- 
five  Negroes,  the  next  year  thirty-nine,  and  the  year 
after  fifty-two.  On  no  occasion  did  he  visit  a  plan- 
tation without  holding  a  special  service  for  the 
Negroes  and  speaking  a  few  words  of  counsel  and 
encouragement.  He  felt,  as  he  had  always  felt,  that 
the  slavery  of  the  Negro  in  America  was  to  be  over- 
ruled for  good  and  that  those  in  Christian  house- 
holds were,  in  the  Providence  of  God,  to  be  the 
leaven  for  the  whole  race  in  the  days  of  their  inevit- 
able freedom.  In  1S64,  in  Tuscaloosa  alone,  where 
the  Reverend  R.  D.  Nevius  was  interestincr  himself 
in  the  Christianizing  of  the  slaves,  he  confirmed  twen- 
ty-one Negro  adults.  It  is  remarkable  that  such 
spirit  was  shown  and  such  work  conducted  through- 
out the  horrors  of  a  war  of  which,  whatever  the  un- 
derlying cause,  the  Negro  was  the  immediate  occa- 
sion; and  what  was  done  is  creditable  not  only  to 
the  immediate  workers  but  also  to  those  who  per- 

105 


RICHARD  HOOKER  WILMER 

mitted  and  encouraged  the  undertaking. 

The  Bishop  was  equally  zealous  in  caring  for  the 
soldiers.  Not  carried  oft'  his  feet  by  the  enthusiasm 
of  some  who  urged  upon  him  that  the  religious  in- 
terests of  the  young  men  in  the  army  were  para- 
mount to  all  other  considerations  and  that  the 
churches  should  be  closed  and  the  clergy  sent  to  the 
front,  he  contended  that  regard  must  be  had  not 
only  to  the  immediate  wants  of  individuals,  but  also 
to  the  future  and  permanent  interests  of  society,  and 
in  only  one  instance  did  he  advise  a  clergyman  al- 
ready fully  and  successfully  engaged  in  parish  work 
to  abandon  his  position  for  one  in  the  army.  But 
as  Federal  occupation  shut  up  the  "disloyal  Epis- 
copal churches"  he  encouraged  the  dispossessed 
clergy  to  betake  themselves  to  camp.  As  the  situa- 
tion grew  darker,  and  every  able-bodied  man  armed 
himself  for  war.  and  congregations  were  reduced  to 
women,  children,  and  disabled  men,  the  army  chap- 
lains increased  in  number,  and  the  good  efTect  of 
their  work  showed  itself  in  the  more  numerous  con- 
firmations of  young  men  at  home  on  furlougli  In 
the  conciliar  year.  1863-64,  the  Bishop  confirmed 
three  hundred  and  thirty-seven  persons. 

A  single  paragraph  shows  how  the  Bishop  felt 
about  this  work.  A  chaplain  had  desired  to  return 
to  the  quieter  walks  of  parish  life,  and  the  Bisho]:) 
felt  constrained  to  write  thus:  "I  cannot  help 
lamenting,  for  the  sake  of  the  soldiers,  that  you  have 
left  the  army.  You  have  done  noble  service  in  it, 
and  it  is  highly  appreciated.  I  think  that  you  have 
peculiar  talents  for  doing  good  in  the  position  which 

106 


THE  CONFEDERATE  BISHOP 

you  occupied  at  your  entrance  into  the  service.  Why 
not  take  the  position  again  ?  The  increased  pay  of  'i 
chaplaincy  would  support  you  now,  and  you  cannot 
well  be  spared.  As  a  surgeon  you  would  be  in- 
valuable, and  thus  most  legitimately  fulfill  a  part  of 
your  sacred  functions.  I  know  no  vacant  parish  in 
the  Diocese  of  Alabama  which  would  pay  the  board 
of  a  single  man.  The  planter  has  no  money,  and 
no  meat  to  speak  of.  We  shall  all  have  to  practice 
self-denial." 

As  the  war  progressed  a  new  sphere  of  beneficence 
opened  to  the  Church.  The  first-fruit  of  the  battle 
fields  was  orphans,  and  many  of  these  were  left  en- 
tirely destitute.  To  such  as  she  found  out  the 
Church  became  a  veritaljle  nursing-mother.  St. 
John's,  Montgomery,  was  the  first  parish  to  under- 
take systematically  the  care  of  the  orphans.  Its 
''Bishop  Cobbs  Orphans'  Home"  was  in  operation 
throughout  the  entire  conflict,  and  when  the  Federal 
troops  occupied  the  city  the  commanding  of^cer, 
ascertaining  that  the  Home  was  named  after  his  old 
rector  in  Cincinnati,  detailed  a  special  guard  to  pro- 
tect the  Home  and  furnished  it  with  a  month's  sup- 
plv  of  provisions. 

The  Bishop  having  commended  this  parish's  be- 
nevolence to  the  diocese  as  worthy  of  imitation,  the 
Council  of  1864  passed  a  series  of  resolutions  calling 
on  every  parish  within  the  diocese  to  establish  a 
similar  institution.  The  endorsement  of  the  Bishop's 
desire  to  look  more  carefully  after  the  helpless  was 
gratifying,  but  the  Council's  action  was  rather  more 
sweeping  than  the  Bishop  was  prepared  for.      In  his 

107 


RICHARD  HOOKER  WILMER 

opinion  two  Homes  in  addition  to  that  already  in 
existence  would  amply  supply  every  need,  and  he 
settled  upon  Mobile  and  Tuskaloosa  as  the  places 
where  the  orphans  could  be  collected  the  most  easily. 

The  attempt  which  the  Bishop  made  at  Mobile 
was  a  decided  failure.  The  expense  in  Confederate 
money  would  have  been  enormous.  The  enemy  were 
even  then  almost  at  ihc  gates  of  the  city.  The  busi- 
ness men  of  the  city  were  so  straitened  to  obtain 
the  necessities  of  life  for  to-day,  so  doubtful  of  the 
morrow,  that  they  were  in  no  mood  to  hear  of  the 
planting  of  another  institution  to  whose  support 
they  must  contribute.  The  Churchmen  of  the  i)lace, 
in  preliminary  consultation  with  the  Bishop,  em- 
phatically discountenanced  even  a  tentative  canvass 
for  subscriptions  and  the  Bishop,  reluctantly  enough, 
retired  from  the  field. 

The  attempt  at  Tuskaloosa  was  more  successful. 
The  rector  and  vestry  showed  the  deepest  interest 
and  gave  more  than  eight  thousand  dollars.  All  the 
parishes  in  that  section  of  the  State  were  appealed 
to  for  help,  and  all  responded  most  liberally.  Marion 
gave  over  six  thousand  dollars;  Selma,  Demopolis, 
and  Faunsdale.  five  thousand  dollars  each,  and 
Greensboro,  his  home,  thirteen  thousand.  In  a  short 
time  fifty  thousand  dollars  had  been  secured.  A\'ith 
thirty  thousand  of  this  a  building  lot  and  garden  were 
bought,  and  a  dwelling  and  schoolhouse  erected. 
Ten  thousand  dollars  were  set  aside  for  invest- 
ment in  real  estate  with  a  view  to  endowment,  and 
the  remainder  was  reserved  for  current  expenses. 

During  the  first  few  months  of  its  existence  only 

1 08 


THE  CONFEDERATE  BISHOP 

eight  orphans  were  received  into  the  Home,    but  in 
conjunction  with   the   Home  a  parochial   school   ui 
fifty  pupils  was  conducted.      The  immediate  charge 
of  this  work  was  committed  to  three  deaconesses, 
whom  the  Bishop  set  apart  by  prayer,  but  without 
imposition  of  hands,  in  Christ  Church,  Tuskaloosa, 
on  December  20,  1864.     The  institution  of  the  order 
of  deaconesses  proved  that  Bishop  Wilmer  did  not 
attribute  all  Episcopal  powers  to  canons  made  and 
provided.       This   order,   though    primitive,    had   no 
place  in  the  American  Church.     But  men  of  breadth 
of  vision  could  not  wait  for  a  slow-moving  General 
Convention  to  give  its  imprimatur  to  the  exercising 
of  an  inherent  right  and  the  supplying  of  an  urger.i 
necessity.        Dr.     ^Muhlenberg   had   set   apart     one 
woman  to  do  the  work  of  deaconess  in  the  parish 
of  the  Holy  Communion,  New  York,  1845.     Bisho]) 
Whittingham  had  instituted  a  similar  order  in   St. 
Andrew's  parish,    Baltimore,    in    1855.     These    two 
staunch    Churchmen   were   Bishop   Wilmer's     only 
predecessors  in  making  deaconesses,  but  what  they 
agreed  upon  was,  to  him,  sufficient  warrant  for  an} 
ecclesiastical  departure. 

The  Council  of  1863  met  a  little  more  than  a  year 

after    the    consecration    of    Bishop    Wilmer.      The 

Bishop  had  by  this  time  familiarized  himself  with  the 

duties  of  the  Episcopal  Office,  whose  harness  fitted 

easily  to  his  natural  dignity,  and  with  the  necessities 

of  the  work  whose  ramifications  he  held  easily    in 

view.     In  his  annual  address  he  recited  certain  of  the 

conditions  which  demanded  attention  :    Alabama  had 

suffered  less,  so  far,  than  any  other  Southern  State. 

109 


RICHARD  HOOKER  WILMER 

Several  clergymen  from  other  dioceses  swelled  the 
ministerial  force.  Nearly  every  established  congre- 
gation was  supplied  with  stated  services.  So  far.  so 
good.  But  the  hindrances  to  supplying  the  few 
vacant  fields  were  many :  Vestries  were  reluctant 
to  assume  pecuniary  responsibilities  which  they  saw 
little  hope  of  discharging.  Clergymen  were  un- 
willing, in  the  absence  of  definite  engagements,  to 
incur  the  expense  of  removal.  And  since  candidates 
for  Orders  were  not  exempt  from  military  duty  it 
was  impossible  to  procure  newly  ordained  men.  in 
view  of  these  conditions  the  Bishop  strongly  urged 
the  clergy  to  multiply  their  labors,  and.  altogether 
apart  from  financial  arrangements,  to  extend  their 
stated  ministrations  to  neighboring  vacant  congre- 
gations; and  upon  the  laity  he  urged  sufficient  gen- 
erosity of  purse  and  time  to  make  this  extension  of 
clerical  service  practicable.  The  vows  of  ordination 
and  the  connnission  to  preach  the  Gospel  were  not, 
he  said,  matters  of  private  contract,  and  were  not 
to  be  narrowed  to  a  purely  money  basis.  He  con- 
gratulated the  clergy  that  although  their  incomes 
had  been  diminished  and  the  cost  of  living  had  been 
increased  four-fold  there  had  not  been  one  word  of 
complaint.  At  the  same  time  he  exhorted  the  laily 
to  enuilate  the  early  disciples,  who  "sold  their  pos- 
sessions, and  parted  them  to  all  men,  as  every  man 
had  need,"  and  he  emphasized  the  peculiar  appro- 
priateness of  such  Scriptural  action  by  Churchmen 
who  claim  an  Apostolic  constitution  and  a  primitive 
creed. 

His  vision  broadened  as  he  wTote   these  things, 

no 


THE  CONFEDERATE  BISHOP 

and  passing  from  present  conditions  to  eternal  pur- 
poses he  made  a  noble  and  uplifting  generalization : 

"It  may  be  that  God  designs,  through  the  in- 
strumentality of  great  suffering,  to  purify  His 
Church,  and  to  arouse  his  people  to  the  long-forgot- 
ten and  neglected  duties  of  self-denial  and  charity. 
His  judgment  begins  with  the  House  of  God;  be- 
cause the  Church,  like  salt,  preserves  the  world,  and 
the  world  is  preserved  for  the  Church,  as  the  casket 
is  for  the  jewel's  sake.  All  the  events  that  transpire 
upon  this  globe  look  to  the  extension  and  purific?- 
tion  of  the  Church.  The  revolutions  of  States,  the 
plottings  of  Statesmen,  the  shock  of  arms  and  the 
fortunes  of  war.  are  only  vitally  important  in  so  far 
as  they  bear  upon  this  one  consummation — the  ex- 
tension of  that  Kingdom  which  shall  know  no  end. 
and  which  shall  at  last  absorb  all  dominion  into  it- 
self." 

In  the  summer  of  1863  the  Bishop  returned  to 
Virginia  for  some  rest.  Making  his  headquarters 
at  Brook  Hill  he  went  into  Richmond  nearly  every 
day  on  an  errand  of  mercy  to  the  Federal  soldiers 
confined  in  Libby  Prison  or  on  Belle  Isle.  Generally 
he  was  accompanied  by  Miss  Emily  Mason  and  by 
Judge  Perkins,  of  Louisiana,  each  bearing  such  suc- 
sor,  physical,  intellectual,  or  spiritual,  as  was  in  his 
or  her  power.  It  took  both  intellectual  and  physical 
succor  to  reconcile  the  prisoners  to  corn  bread,  or 
"pone  bread,"  to  which  they  had  an  almost  uncon- 
querable aversion;  and  the  party  often  carried  to 
them  other  portions  of  the  rations  of  hungry  Con- 
federate soldiers,  who  gave  gladly  such  as  they  had. 

Ill 


RICHARD  HOOKER  WILMER 

It  was  during  this  visit,  and  while  Mrs.  Wihner 
was  with  friends  in  Powhatan  County,  that  the 
Bishop's  latest-born  came  to  him — William  Holland, 
who  was  born  on  August  26th,  1863. 

In  November  of  the  same  year  the  Bishop  was 
back  in  Greensboro,  Alabama,  and  in  his  first  letter 
to  John  Stewart  wrote  as  follows:  "I  have  been 
going  without  intermission  since  I  saw  you,  and 
have  done  a  large  amount  of  work.  Upon  our  jour- 
ney out  we  lost  three  connections  and  staid  all  night 
in  passages  and  sitting-rooms.  I  was  in  bed  once 
in  seven  days.  Upon  the  heel  of  this  I  had  more 
than  a  month's  continuous  work,  preaching  and 
traveling  without  intermission.  Yet  I  was  never  in 
better  health,  and  seldom  feel  weariness.  I  am  Icarn- 
in£r  to  endure  fatigue,  and  thus  one  of  mv  most 
dreaded  evils  has  by  a  kind  providence  been,  so  far, 
removed  from  me." 

Chickamauga  and  Chattanooga  had  just  boon 
fought,  and  the  Bi.shop  had  some  pronounced  view  ; 
as  to  the  men  more  closely  related  to  conditions 
thereabout:  "I  .saw  much  of  General  Polk  a  few 
weeks  since,"  he  wrote  on  November  28th,  1863. 
"From  what  he  told  me  I  was  led  to  expect  the  re- 
sult brought  us  by  to-day's  mail  from  the  Army  of 
Tennessee.  The  General  said  that  President  Davis 
wished  him  to  resume  command  of  his  old  corps, 
treated  his  relief  by  Bragg  as  unworthy  of  a  Court 
of  Inquiry,  etc.  He  told  the  President  that  he  would 
take  any  position  under  any  other  commander,  but 
that  he  had  long  enough  l)ccn  the  victim  of  Bragg's 
imbecility.      There  must  be  something  wrong  in  a 

112 


THE  CONFEDERATE  BISHOP 

chief  who  so  governs  his  army  as  to  be  without  the 
aid  of  such  men  as  Polk,  Cheatham,  and  Buckner  in 
the  moment  of  strife.  The  President  lacks,  I  am 
sorry  to  be  compelled  to  believe,  the  quality  so  much 
needed  of  yielding  gracefully  to  a  great  necessity. 
A  very  great  man  would  not  have  allowed  matters 
to  stand  at  Chickamauga  as  he  found  them.  But  he 
is  as  great  as  God  made  him  to  be,  and  as  God's 
purposes  allow  him  to  be.  A  great  chastening  with 
all  its  attendant  blessings  would  not  take  place  if  men 
were  always  wise.  A  protracted  war  would  not  last 
if  decisive  victories  were  frequently  gained  by  either 
party.  An  indecisive  battle  is  a  continued  blister, 
and  that  the  patient  needs.  It  is  very  painful,  but  it 
is  more  endurable  than  the  disease." 

In  April  of  this  year  the  Confederate  Congress 
had  passed  a  property  tax  of  eight  per  cent,  license 
taxes  on  various  occupations,  a  graded  income  tax, 
a  tax  of  ten  per  cent  on  the  profits  from  sales  of  food- 
stuffs and  a  few  other  commodities,  and  a  tax  in  kind, 
a  sort  of  tithe,  on  the  products  of  agriculture.  The 
Bishop  commented  on  various  aspects  of  the  situa- 
tion: "We  are  paying  taxes  here,"  he  wrote, 
"heavily,  if  not  cheerfully.  The  congested  condition 
has  been  too  long  continued  to  allow  us  to  hope  for 
healthy  reaction.  The  arterial  circulation  has  not 
been  counterpoised  by  suf^cient  venous  circulation — 
hence,  congestion.  The  people  were  more  ripe  for 
taxation  two  years  ago  than  now.  Heavy  taxation 
then  might  have  staved  ofT  the  present  state  of 
things.  Bonding  won't  do,  except  to  a  limited  ex- 
tent; it   merely  chang^es  the  form  of  indebtedness. 

113 


RICHARD  HOOKER  WILMER 


X 


The  secret  of  depreciation  is  to  be  sought  mainly  in 
the  general  doubt  of  capacit}-  to  redeem.  But,  wis- 
dom here  too  would  not  have  consisted  with  the  pur- 
poses of  God  towards  a  mammonish  generation. 

"I  rejoice  to  think  that  a  people  who  made  scorn 
of  paying  tithes  to  establish  the  Kingdom  of  Peace 
are  compelled  to  disgorge  them  for  the  purposes  of 
making  war — a  retribution  approaching  the  region 
of  philosophy  and  poetry.  Nations,  as  well  as  men, 
avoid  treatment  for  disease  by  obeying  the  laws  of 
health.  So  fully  am  I  impressed  with  what  I  think 
I  discern  of  the  aim  and  tendency  of  the  trcatn'.cnr 
which  we  are  now^  going  through,  that,  save  for  the 
sorrow  and  death  reigning  around  mc,  I  could  al- 
most exult  in  view  of  the  exhibition  of  Divine  power 
and  wisdom." 

By  1864  the  Federal  armies  were  marching- 
through  such  iwrtions  of  the  South  as  they  pleased, 
and  only  the  blindest  optimism  could  fail  to  see  the 
meaning  of  it  all.  Federal  authority  began  to  up- 
rear  itself  here  and  there.  Federal  troops  were 
quartered  in  the  most  important  towns  and  cities. 
To  many  persons  further  struggle  seemed  both  use- 
less and  foolish,  and,  protected  by  the  strong  arm 
of  the  Northern  soldiery  from  hurt  at  the  hands  of 
more  constant  men,  these  men  took  the  oath  of  alle- 
giance to  the  United  States.  Of  such  Bishop  Wil- 
mer  spoke  his  mind  in  no  measured  terms: 

"I  rarely  hear  from  you."  he  wrote  from  Greens- 
boro, under  date  of  February  nth,  1864,  "that  I  do 
not  receive  the  tidings  of  the  death  of  some  near 
friend.     Shortly    some    mutual    friend    will    do    the 

114 


THE  CONFEDERATE  BISHOP 

same  sad  work  for  one  of  us.  But  I  mourn  more 
for  the  living  dead — those  who  have  been  forced  by 
timidity  or  cupidity  to  take  a  hated  oath.  What 
woukl  some  of  those  men  have  said,  three  years  ago, 
if  they  had  been  told  that  they  would  so  degrade 
themselves?  So  true  is  it  that  all  men  stand  until 
they  fall,  and  that  most  of  our  fancied  virtue  is  the 
absence  of  temptation.  Worse  than  this  is  the  pre- 
vailing disposition  to  justify  it.  Deplorable  enough 
to  sin,  but  awful  to  justify  the  evil  doing.  Many 
have  sinned  as  David  did;  few  have  repented  and 
confessed  as  he  did.  I  look  upon  these  pitiable  ones 
as  the  dead  who  have  no  hope  of  a  resurrection. 

"There  is  some  great  mystery  in  the  mode  by 
which  the  minds  of  a  people  are  influenced.  Judging 
from  the  reports  of  measures  in  Congress  I  should 
conclude  that  God.  in  his  wisdom,  had  withdrawn 
the  usual  supply  of  the  judgment  that  he  ordinarily 
vouchsafes  to  man.  He  gave  to  Solomon  wisdom 
as  his  chiefest  gift.  May  he  not  withdraw  it  as  his 
direst  punishment?  Does  it  not  seem  that  bodies  of 
men  are  frequently  as  much  wanting  in  intellect  as 
in  conscience  ?  How  often  do  you  see  it  that  a  body 
of  men  will  reach  a  conclusion  which  scarcely  an  in- 
dividual of  that  body  would  have  reached  in  judg- 
ment and  in  conscience. 

"I  hear  sad  accounts  from  North  Carolina,"  he 
concludes.  "The  majority  there  are  in  favor  of  a 
Convention.  Many  see  not  the  full  drift.  The 
leaders  do;  and.  while  they  disclaim  the  logical  and 
necessary  conclusion,  press  the  matter.  Meanwhile 
there  is  general  apathy  and  ill-disguised  disaffection. 

1^5 


RICHARD  HOOKER  WILMER 

From  my  soul  I  pity  President  Davis,  and  pray  for 
liim  from  a  full  heart.  How  can  his  system  stand 
the  anxiety  of  the  time?  My  own  mind,  thank  God, 
is  hopeful,  and,  I  trust,  in  some  sort  resigned.  But 
it  is  easy  to  resign  one's  self  to  what  you  don't  think 
will  hai)pcn,  and,  hence,  I  distrust  myself.  *  *  Who 
can  tell  at  what  moment  his  nerve  will  fail  ?  Poor 
Peter  would  have  a  large  company  of  sympathizers 
at  this  time.  Would  that  they  could  have  his  grace 
to  weep  bitterly  in  the  retrospect." 

The  Bishop  did  not  content  himself  with  standing 
by  and  moralizing.  With  pen  and  tongue  he  sought 
to  better  things  in  Church,  in  State,  and  in  Army. 
In  a  letter  to  Air.  Menuninger,  Secretary  of  the 
Treasury,  he  took  strong  ground  against  the  current 
system  of  taxation,  which,  because  it  was  in  kind  and 
not  in  money,  fell  heavily  upon  the  consumer,  and 
practically  left  the  producer  untouched;  and  he  found 
the  Secretary  entirely  in  accord  with  him — but,  un- 
fortunately, the  Secretary  was  not  the  legislative 
authority.  In  correspondence  with  Bishop  Elliott 
he  was  casting  about  for  a  better  system  of  army 
chaplaincies,  suggesting  that  Bishop  Lay  be  made 
Missionary  Bishop  of  the  Army  of  Northern  Geor- 
gia, with  temporary  jurisdiction  over  all  chaplains, 
and  he  instructed  his  own  clergy  serving  with  the 
army  to  make  their  reports  to  that  Bishop;  and  he 
found  Bishop  Elliott  heartily  in  favor  of  the  plan — 
but  to  the  other  bishops  the  plan  presented  in- 
superable difficulties.  He  outlined  a  tentative 
scheme  for  a  Church  Publishing  Plouse  and  for  the 
establishment  of  a  distributing  agency  for  religious 

ii6 


THE  CONFEDERATE  BISHOP 

literature  at  Atlanta — but  Bishop  Lay  was  the  only 
prominent     ecclesiastic     outside  of  Alabama     who 
favored  the  project.     In  Alabama  it  was  endorsed  by 
the  Council  of  1864  as  to  its  essential  feature,  the 
distribution     of     religious     and     devotional     works 
among-    the    soldiers.      Diocesan    missionary    funds 
were  used  freely  in  meeting  the  expense  incurred  in 
furnishing  hundreds  of  Prayer  Books  to  the  army 
and  in  publishing  tracts  and  pamphlets  in  large  edi- 
tions.     After  some  months  the  scheme  came  to  an 
untimely  end  through  the  breaking  of  lines  of  com- 
munication, but  it  subserved    its  purpose  in  large 
measure,  for  many  a  holier  thought  was  kindled  and 
nobler  aspiration  aroused,  as  privates  and  officers, 
wearying  of  inconsequential  talk,  would  pore   over 
the  literature  in  the  flickering  light  of  the  camp-fire, 
nnd  many  of  these  thoughts  and  aspirations  came  to 
the  birth  and  did  right  valiant  service  in  after  years. 
But    whatever    the    things    that    interested    the 
Bishop,  nothing  prevented  him  from  seeing  to  it  that 
Alabama's  quota  of  chaplains  was  kept  full.     A  letter 
which  he  received  in  this  period  from  Dr.  Quintard, 
then  an  army  chaplain  and  thereafter  to  be  Bishop 
■  of  Tennessee,  tells  him  about  several  of  these  chap- 
lains, and  incidentally  throws  much  light  upon  con- 
temporary affairs : 

"Atlanta,  Ga.,  14  June,  '64. 

"My  Dear  Bp. : 

"Quite  used  up,  run  down,  weary  and  sick,  I  am  in 
no  condition  to  write,  but  as  I  can  do  nothing  else  I 
will  make  an  extra  effort,  as  I  am  very  anxious  to 
commune  with  you.    Have  no  fear  that  I  intend  to 

117 


RICHARD  HOOKER  WILMER 

write  a  bilious  or  dyspeptic  epistle,  because  my  juices 
are  dried  up,  my  knees  weak,  and  my  brain  sluggish. 
The  truth  is,  I  want  to  chat  with  you  as  a  friend.  I 
need  advice,  and  your  kindness  aforetime  draws  my 
heart  towards  you. 

"The  possibility  may  arise — I  don't  think  it  will — 
which  may  render  it  expedient  for  me  to  leave  Atlan- 
ta with  my  family — consisting  of  one  wife,  three 
children,  and  three  servants.  yMready  we  hear  the 
boom  of  guns  not  far  distant.  I  cannot  think  it  ex- 
pedient for  me  to  remain  in  Atlanta,  provided  the 
enemy  gets  here — but  what  shall  I  do?  Aye,  there's 
the  rub.  I  know  that  one  of  the  old  Latin  poets 
says,  "Fortitude  delights  in  hardships,"  and  for  my- 
self I  could  submit.  But  wife  and  children — thev 
must  be  preserved  from  the  outrages  and  insults  of 
vandals  more  bent  on  destruction  than  those  that 
followed  Genseric.  Already  I  have  lost  my  all  of 
earthly  goods.  In  Nashville  my  losses  were  heavy, 
but  I  still  had  an  income  sufficient  to  support  my 
family.  Next  came  my  loss  at  Rome,  Ga.,  of  some 
$75,000,  an  interest  in  rolling-mill.  And  now  my 
interest  from  the  cotton  factory  is  cut  off.  Well,  I 
give  it  all  up  cheerfully.  Jehovah  jireh !  I  have  no 
tears  to  shed.  I  feel  that  I  have  not  one  sigh  to  burden 
my  heart.  Still  I  am  anxious  to  get  such  a  position  as 
will  enable  me  to  sustain  my  family,  and  if  there  is  any 
locality  in  your  diocese  where  I  can  obtain  board 
at  reasonable  rates  I  should  like  to  know  it;  for  I  may 
be — mark,  I  say  may  be — compelled  to  beat  a  retreat 
with  an  empty  haversack  and  a  very  lean  purse.  If 
you  have  advice  to  give,  prepare  to  give  it  now. 

118 


THE  CONFEDERATE  BISHOP 

"Freeman  has  prepared  an  admirable  tract  for  pub- 
lication entitled  "Brief  Hints  on  the  Church."  It  is 
an  old  tract  recast,  admirable  in  tone  and  clear  in 
teaching.  I  shall  forward  it  to  Everhart  at  once. 
Gholson,  Baird  [sic — should  be  Beard],  and  Jarratt 
are  at  the  front.  Beckwith  [then  of  Demopolis, 
Ala.,  afterwards  Bishop  of  Georgia,]  the  glorious 
fellow,  the  golden-mouthed,  has  been  in  the  hospitals 
here  for  a  week.  He  goes  to  the  front  to-morrow. 
If  I  can  gain  strength  I  shall  go  with  him.  I  am  ex- 
tremely weak,  and  feel  very  worthless. 

"Wc  have  had  terrible  weather  for  some  days,  but 
now  the  "nimbly  darting  sun"  threatens  to  melt  the 
clouds  away  and  give  us  shine  again. 

"With  warmest  regards  I  am  yours  ever  in  Christ 
and  His  Church, 

"C.  T.  OUINTARD." 

'T.  S. — I  have  on  hand  your  check  for  $500.00  on 
Montgomery.    Should  have  acknowledged  before." 

The  attempt  of  Bishop  Wilmer  to  bolster  up  his 
own  waning  confidence  in  the  ultimate  success  of 
Southern  arms  was,  in  the  light  of  the  outcome  of 
the  war,  pathetic.  He  drew  on  Nature  and  Revela- 
tion alike  for  thoughts  that  would  conceal  the  naked- 
ness of  facts.  At  one  time  he  said,  "AfYairs  look 
cloudy  just  now,  but  the  clouds  bring  rain."  Again, 
"One  cannot  suffer  a  grievous  fall  without  being  first 
raised  to  a  great  height :  I  cannot  but  regard  the 
present  elevation  of  the  Yankees  as  the  necessai*y 
preliminary  to  their  ultimate  casting  down."  At  an- 
other time,  "The  rod  will  be  lifted  up  when  the  child 
repents  and  makes  confession  :     President  Davis  was 

119 


RICHARD  HOOKER  WILMER 

confirmed  in  Richmond  last  week  by  Bishop  Johns." 
As  late  as  August  24th,  1864,  he  could  write:  "The 
war  party  [in  the  North]  is  in  its  last  convulsions. 
>Mabama  and  Georgia  are  suffering  from  its  dying 
kicks."  When  the  renomination  of  Lincoln  demon- 
strated the  incorrectness  of  this  diagnosis,  he  could, 
in  his  boundless  optimism,  fancy  that  he  saw  a  silver 
lining  to  the  cloud:  "I  had  hoped  for  a  peace  can- 
didate from  the  Chicago  convention.  But  we  have 
anything  else.  Therefore  it  is  that  I  desire  to  see 
Lincoln  re-elected.  I  would  fain  get  rid  of  a  fresh 
swarm  of  fiies.  Therefore  it  is,  also,  that  I  regard 
the  state  of  things  at  .\tlanta  as  anything  but  an  un- 
mitigated calamity.  It  tends  to  promote  the  re-elec- 
tion of  Lincoln.  Should  McClellan  be  elected,  and 
should  he  propose  a  reconstruction  of  the  Union  on 
its  old  basis,  with  the  guarantee  of  property,  etc.,  I 
should  be  afraid  that  the  proposition  would  divide 
ourselves,  and  place  us  at  the  mercy  of  the  North. 
Great  numbers  are  hopeless  in  regard  to  our  ability 
to  resist  the  efforts  being  made  for  our  subjugation, 
and  are,  consequently,  ready  to  grasp  at  peace  on  tie 
condition  of  retaining  their  property  during  their  life- 
time. I  should  be  afraid  to  test  the  issue  at  the  polls. 
On  the  other  hand,  Lincoln's  policy  necessitates 
union  among  ourselves,  and  therefore  I  prefer  the 
alternative  of  his  election,  and  accept  whatever  of 
reverses  to  our  arms  may  be  necessary  to  secure  that 
result." 

And  when  all  was  over,  and  the  issue  was  decided 
adversely  to  the  South,  he  could,  with  stout  heart 
and  with  faith  like  unto  that  of  the  patriarchs  who 

120 


THE  CONFEDERATE  BISHOP 

departed  hence  "not  having  received  the  promise," 
still  look  forward  to  a  time  when  the  South's  conten- 
tion should  receive  justification  at  the  hands  of  man- 
kind: "History  records  no  more  gallant  struggle 
under  more  gallant  leaders  than  the  South  made. 
The  issue  being  against  us,  multitudes  changed  their 
opinions,  and  said,  'They  nmst  have  been  striving 
against  right,  or  God  would  have  given  them  vic- 
tory.' But  such  reasoning  cannot  hold.  It  proves 
too  much.  Right,  in  the  end  and  long  future,  will 
get  its  reward,  but  in  ways  and  modes  of  God's  own 
ordination,  and  not  after  man's  measurements  or 
upon  man's  small  balances,  which  are  not  equal  to 
judge  and  weigh  such  magnitudes  as  are  involved 
in  the  divine  plan  with  nations." 


CHAPTER  VII 

"GENERAL   ORDERS    NO.   38" 

The  close  of  the  war  of  the  Secession  brought  with 
it  the  overturning  of  the  Confederate  Government, 
the  subverting  of  existing  laws  in  the  seceded  states. 
the  abrogation  of  their  Constitutions,  and  the  anni- 
hilation of  their  entire  civil  polity.  Alabama  was  a 
military  jirovince.  Her  Governor  was  held  under 
duress.  Federal  soldiers  administered  public  atTairs, 
executive,  judicial,  and  legislative. 

So  long  as  the  Confederacy  had  upheld  itself  by 
force  of  arms,  the  Prayer  Book  prayer  for  the  Presi- 
dent of  the  United  States  and  all  in  Civil  Authority 
had  been  used  with  the  word  "Confederate"'  substi- 
tuted for  "United."  But  the  Bishop  of  Alabama 
(lid  not  believe  in  prayers  for  the  dead,  and  with  the 
passing  of  the  Confederate  States  he  had  directed 
that  the  prayer,  as  used,  be  discontinued.  In  his 
judgment,  however,  it  did  not  follow  that  of  neces- 
sitv  the  prayer  should  be  used  in  its  original  form. 
Plainly,  conditions  w^ere  not  such  as  the  prayer  con- 
templated. The  entire  State  was  under  military 
authority,  not  under  civil.  Moreover,  the  prospect 
was  good  for  the  continued  occupation  of  the  State 
by  soldiers  and  for  its  permanent  reduction  to  the 
status  of  a  military  province.      For  such  a  condition 

122 


GENERAL  ORDERS  NO.  38 

Bishop  Wilmer  felt  that  neither  he  nor  his  clergy 
could  ask  long  continuance.  They  could  most  heart- 
ily pray  to  God  to  give  the  military  power  "grace  to 
execute  justice  and  to  maintain  truth,"  but  they 
could  not  ask  God  to  grant  their  Commander-in- 
chief  "health,  prosperity,  and  long  life."  In  fact,  the 
Bishop  frankly  confessed  that  for  the  existing  state 
of  government,  impersonated  in  the  President,  he 
desired  the  least  length  of  days,  and  the  least  meas- 
ure of  prosperity  consistent  with  the  permissive  will 
of  God. 

With  this  feeling  the  Bishop,  on  June  20th,  1865, 
issued  the  following  Pastoral  Letter  to  the  clergy 
and  laity  of  the  Diocese  of  Alabama: 

"The  lapse  of  the  Confederate  Government  does 
not  necessarily  involve  the  disorganization  of  the 
General  Council  of  the  Church  within  the  limits  of 
that  Government.  The  nationality  of  a  church  is  a 
matter  purely  conventional,  and  of  human  arrange- 
ment. It  is  assuredly  possible  for  two  church  organ- 
izations to  exist  under  one  common  civil  govern- 
ment without  violating  the  unity  of  the  Church. 
There  is  an  essential  difference  between  the  unity  of 
branches  of  the  Church  and  their  union  in  one  legis- 
lative body.  For  example,  the  Church  in  England 
is  in  perfect  unity  with  the  Church  in  the  United 
States;  but  there  is  no  legislative  union  between 
these  churches.  Again,  and  this  is  a  case  more 
nearly  in  point,  the  Church  in  Scotland  is  in  unity 
with  the  Church  in  England,  and  yet  they  exist  as 
separate  organizations  under  a  common  civil  govern- 
ment.    Consequently,  no  charge  of  schism  can  just- 

123 


RICHARD  HOOKER  WILMER 

ly  lie  against  the  Church  in  the  Southern  States  in 
case  she  should  see  fit  to  perpetuate  herself  through 
a  separate  organization.  She  does  not  thereby 
necessarily  depart  from  the  unity  of  the  Church  in 
doctrine,  discipline,  or  order.  Therefore,  it  may  or 
may  not,  as  circumstances  indicate,  be  advisable  and 
expedient  to  dissolve  the  General  Council.  This  is 
a  question  for  future  ecclesiastical  determination. 

"As  to  the  change  in  the  language  of  certain 
prayers  which  is  made  necessary  by  late  political 
events,  I  observe  that  the  lapse  of  the  Confederate 
Government  requires,  of  necessity,  the  omission  of 
the  'Prayer  for  the  President  of  the  Confederate 
States  and  all  in  civil  authority.' 

'The  immediate  substitution  of  another  form  of 
prayer  does  not  follow  of  the  same  necessity,  as  will 
appear  from  the  following  considerations: 

"To  pray  for  all  in  authority  is,  unquestionably,  a 
duty,  but  a  duty  of  religious,  and  not  of  political, 
origin  and  obligation.  The  mode  of  discharging 
that  duty  must  be  determined  by  the  proper  eccle- 
siastical authority.  Consequently,  any  attempt  on 
the  part  of  a  civil  or  military  power  to  dictate  to  the 
Church  in  this  matter  cannot  but  be  regarded  as  un- 
authorized and  intrusive.  Certain  tests  of  loyalty 
have  been  established  by  authority,  and  they  who 
faithfully  conform  to  these  tests  have  fulfilled  the  re- 
quirements of  the  law,  and  have  a  right,  in  equity 
and  under  the  Constitution  of  the  country,  to  manage 
their  ecclesiastical  affairs  according  to  their  own 
discretion.  The  Church  has  due  regard  to  estab- 
lished authority,  and  is  not  to  be  presumed  regard- 

124 


GENERAL  ORDERS  NO.  38 

less  of  her  sacred  obligations.  She  must  be  left  free 
and  untrammeled  in  her  legitimate  sphere  of  action. 
Any  attempt  to  dictate  to  her  can  only  serve  to  re- 
tard the  action  which,  in  pursuance  of  her  obliga- 
tions to  God  and  to  her  own  traditions,  she  will  un- 
questionabl}'  take  at  the  proper  time  and  in  the 
proper  manner. 

"Now  the  Church  in  this  country  has  established 
a  form  of  prayer  'for  the  President  and  all  in  civil 
authority.'  The  language  of  that  prayer  was  selected 
with  careful  reference  to  the  sul^ject  of  the  prayer — 
'All  in  civil  authority;  and  she  desires  for  that 
authority  prosperity  and  long  continuance.  No  one 
can  reasonably  be  expected  to  desire  a  long  con- 
tinuance of  military  rule.  Therefore,  the  prayer  is 
altogether  inappropriate  and  inapplicable  to  the 
present  condition  of  things,  when  no  civil  authority 
exists  in  the  exercise  of  its  functions.  Hence,  as  I 
remarked  in  the  Circular  (of  May  30th),  'We  may 
yield  a  true  allegiance  to.  and  sincerely  pray  for 
grace,  wisdom,  and  understanding  in  behalf  of,  a 
government  founded  upon  force,  while  at  the  same 
time  we  could  not,  in  good  conscience,  ask  for  it  con- 
tinuance, prosperity,'  etc.,  etc. 

"When  the  Civil  Authority  shall  be  restored,  it 
will  be  eminently  proper  for  the  Church  to  resume 
the  use  of  that  form  of  prayer  which  has  been  estab- 
lished by  the  highest  ecclesiastical  authorities,  and 
which  has  for  so  many  years  constituted  a  part  of 
her  Liturgy. 

"You  are  aware  that  in  time  past  I  have  expressed 
a  strong  desire  'that  the  regular  and  ordinary  forms 

125 


RICHARD  HOOKER  WILMER 

of  public  worship  should  be  so  entirely  Catholic  in 
character  as  to  be  adapted  to  all  exigencies  of  time, 
place,  and  circumstance,'  and  that  I  urged  this  mat- 
ter upon  the  attention  of  our  Diocesan  Council  in 
1864.  with  a  view  to  action  at  the  approaching 
General  Council.  I  still  entertain  the  preference 
which  I  then  expressed,  but  it  is  not  for  me,  in  my 
individual  capacity,  to  introduce  into  the  Liturgy 
any  other  form  of  words  than  that  which  the  Church, 
in  her  collective  and  legislative  capacity,  has  already 
established. 

''My  conclusion  is.  therefore,  and  my  direction 
which  I  hereby  give,  that  when  civil  authority  shall 
be  restored  in  the  State  of  Alabama,  the  Clergy  shall 
use  the  form  entitled.  'A  Prayer  for  the  President  of 
the  United  States  and  all  in  Civil  Authority,'  as  it 
stands  in  the  Book  of  Common  Prayer. 

"And  my  counsel  to  the  Clergy  and  Laity  is.  to 
heed  the  teachings  of  the  Church  in  regard  to  the 
^Scriptural  obedience  due  to  'the  powers  that  be;' 
?nd,  whilst  carefully  maintaining  the  inherent  pre- 
rogatives of  the  Church  within  her  sphere,  faithfully 
to  discharge  their  duties  to  the  State;  thus  fulfilling 
the  injunction  of  our  Lord — 'Render  unto  Caesar 
the  things  that  are  Caesar's,  and  unto  God  the  things 
that  are  God's.' 

"The  doctrine  of  the  Church  upon  this  point  is 
brielly,  but  most  comprehensively,  summed  up  in 
her  37th  Article  of  Religion :  'The  Power  of  the 
Civil  Magistrate  extendeth  to  all  men,  as  well  Clergy 
as  Laity,  in  all  things  temporal;  but  hath  no  author- 
ity in  things  purely  spiritual.     And  we  hold  it  to  be 

126 


GENERAL  ORDERS  NO.  38 

the  duty  of  all  men  who  are  professors  of  the  Gospel, 
to  pay  respectful  obedience  to  the  Civil  Authority, 
regularly  and  legitimately  constituted.' 

"In  regard  to  the  taking  of  oaths: — It  is  beyond 
all  question  the  duty  of  every  citizen  to  render  faith- 
ful allegiance  to  the  government  under  which  he 
lives,  and  an  oath  of  fidelity  to  the  government  is 
only  the  formal  and  solemn  acknowledgment  and  ex- 
pression of  an  already  existing  obligation.  If,  there- 
fore, the  oath  of  allegiance  should  be  lawfully  re- 
quired of  all  citizens,  there  is  no  good  reason  why 
such  oaths  should  not  be  taken;  provided,  that  all 
things  be  done  (see  39th  Article)  'in  justice,  judg- 
ment, and  truth.'  All  false  swearing  is  an  abomina- 
tion. 

"And  now,  brethren,  commending  you  to  the 
guidance  and  protection  of  God,  and  earnestly 
praying  that  all  things  may  be  ordered  to  the  ad- 
vancement of  His  glory,  the  good  of  His  Church, 
and  the  safety,  honor,  and  welfare  of  His  people,  I 
am  yours  faithfully  in  Christ  and  His  Church. 

"RICH'D  H.  WILMER, 
"Bishop  of  the  Diocese  of  Alabama. 
"Greensboro',  Ala.,  June  20,  1865." 

This  Pastoral  Letter  was  received  by  the  Church- 
men of  Alabama  with  hearty  approval.  The  clergy 
fell  into  line,  and  services  were  conducted  according 
to  the  Bishop's  direction,  with  the  prayer  for  the 
President  of  the  United  States  omitted.  Through- 
out the  summer  the  Federal  authorities  took  no 
notice  of  the  omission,  and  restoration  of  the  prayer 

127 


RICHARD  HOOKER  WILMER 

might  have  come  about  peaceably  had  not  the 
officioiisness  of  one  man  used  the  resentment  of  an- 
other to  make  mischief.  Major  General  Thomas, 
the  Federal  commander  of  the  Military  Division  of 
the  Tennessee,  to  which  belonged  the  Department  of 
Alabama,  was  a  Virginian,  and  Bishop  \\'ilmer  had, 
all  through  the  war,  been  unsparing  of  him  as  a 
"renegade."  This  characterization  of  him  was  not 
confined  to  the  Bishop  of  Alabama,  but  in  W'ilmer's 
hands  it  was  especially  caustic.  When,  therefc»re, 
"Parson  Brownlow,"  the  Reconstruction  governor  of 
Tennessee,  brought  Wilmcr's  Pastoral  Letter  to 
General  Thomas's  attention,  nothing  more  was 
needed  to  make  the  General's  personal  enemy  ap- 
pear an  enemy  to  the  Republic.  The  machinery  was 
set  in  motion,  and  General  Woods  was  directed  to 
investigate  the  matter  and  take  prescribed  action. 

The  coming  clash  between  the  ecclesiastical 
authority  and  the  military  was  made  known  to  the 
Bishop,  and  as  IMobile  was  both  the  Department 
headcpiarters  and  the  seat  of  the  Church's  greatest 
strength,  and  the  storm  center  would  be  there,  tHe 
Bishop  left  his  home  in  Greensboro  and  went  down 
to  Mobile  to  be  on  the  scene  of  action. 

Scarcely  had  he  arrived  in  the  city  when  General 
Woods,  hearing  of  his  arrival,  sent  an  officer  of  his 
stafT  to  ask  "when  the  Bishop  intended  to  use  the 
Prayer  for  the  President  of  the  United  States." 

The  Bishop  replied  that  as  the  question  was  asked 
in  a  tone  of  authority  he  declined  to  answer  it. 

The  officer  then  proposed  to  talk  the  matter  over 
"as  between  man  and  man." 

128 


GENERAL  ORDERS  NO.  38 

The  Bishop  acceded  to  this  proposition,  and  the 
officer  asked:  "When  do  you  think  that  you  will 
use  the  Prayer  Book  prayer  for  the  President?" 

"When  you  all  get  away  from  here,"  was  the  reply 
of  the  Bishop;  and  he  then  asked  the  officer  if,  with 
conditions  reversed  and  the  Confederate  heel  on  the 
neck  of  the  Union,  he  could  sincerely  ask  for  life, 
health,  and  prosperity  to  the  Confederate  President  ? 

The  officer  excitedly  exclaimed  that  he  would  be — 
something  very  dreadful — if  he  would. 

"Well,"  returned  the  Bishop,  "I  am  not  disposed 
to  use  your  phraseology;  but,  if  I  do  that  thing  that 
you  come  to  order  me  to  do — address  the  Almighty 
with  my  lips,  when  my  heart  is  not  in  my  prayer — I 
run  great  danger  of  meeting  the  doom  that  you 
have  hypothetically  invoked  upon  your  own  head." 

The  officer  then  returned  to  General  Woods.  A 
few  days  later — exactly  three  months  after  the  ap- 
pearance of  the  Bishop's  ofifending  Pastoral — the 
following  remarkable  document  was  promulgated 
from  military  headquarters  at  Mobile : 
"HEADQUARTERS 
"DEPARTMENT  OF  ALABAMA, 

"Mobile,  Ala.,  Sept.  20,  1865. 
"GENERAL  ORDERS,  NO.  38. 

"The  Protestant  Episcopal  Church  of  the  United 
States  has  established  a  form  of  Prayer  to  be  used  for 
'the  President  of  the  United  States  and  all  in  Civil 
Authority.'  During  the  continuance  of  the  late 
wicked  and  groundless  rebellion  the  prayer  was 
changed  to  one  for  the  President  of  the  Confederate 
States,  and,  so  altered,  was  used  in  the  Protestant 

129 


RICHARD  HOOKER  WILMER 

Episcopal    churches    of    the    Dioceses   of  Alabama. 

"Since  the  'lapse'  of  the  Confederate  Government 
and  the  restoration  of  the  authority  of  the  United 
States  over  the  late  rebellious  States  the  prayer  for 
the  President  has  been  altogether  omitted  in  the 
Episcopal  churches  of  Alabama. 

"This  omission  was  recommended  by  the  Right 
Rev.  Richard  Wilmer,  Bishop  of  Alabama,  in  a  let- 
ter to  the  clergy  and  laity,  dated  June  20,  1865.  The 
only  reason  given  by  Bishop  Wilmer  for  the  omis- 
sion of  the  prayer,  which,  to  use  his  own  language, 
'was  established  by  the  highest  ecclesiastical  author- 
ities, and  has  for  many  years  constituted  a  part  of 
the  Liturgy  of  the  Church,'  is  stated  by  him  in  the 
following  words : 

"  'Now,  the  Church  in  this  country  has  established 
a  form  of  prayer  for  the  President  and  all  in  civil 
authority.  The  language  of  the  prayer  was  selected 
with  careful  reference  to  the  subject  of  the  prayer — 
"All  in  Civil  Authority;"  and  she  desires  for  that 
authority  prosperity  and  long  continuance.  No  one 
can  reasonably  be  expected  to  desire  a  long  con- 
tinuance of  military  rule.  Therefore,  the  prayer  is 
altogether  inappropriate  and  inapplicable  to  the 
present  condition  of  things,  when  no  civil  authority 
exists  in  the  exercise  of  its  functions.  Hence,  as  I 
remarked  in  the  Circular,  "we  may  yield  a  true  alle- 
giance to,  and  sincerely  pray  for  grace,  wisdom,  and 
understanding  in  behalf  of,  a  government  founded 
upon  force,  while  at  the  same  time  we  could  not  in 
good  conscience  ask  for  its  continuance,  prosper- 
ity," '  etc.,  etc. 

130 


GENERAL  ORDERS  NO.  38 

"It  will  be  observed  from  this  extract — ist,  That 
the  Bishop,  because  he  cannot  pray  for  the  con- 
tinuance of  'military  rule,'  therefore  declines  to  pray 
for  those  in  authority.  2nd,  He  declares  the  prayer 
inappropriate  and  inapplicable,  because  no  civil 
authority  (exists)  in  the  exercise  of  its  functions. 

"On  the  20th  of  June,  the  date  of  this  letter,  there 
was  a  President  of  the  United  States,  a  Cabinet, 
Judges  of  the  Supreme  Court,  and  thousands  of 
other  civil  officers  of  the  United  States,  all  in  the 
exercise  of  their  functions.  It  was  for  them  specially 
that  this  form  of  prayer  was  established,  yet  the 
Bishop  cannot  among  all  these  find  any  subject 
worthy  of  his  prayers.  Since  the  publication  of  this 
letter,  a  Civil  Governor  has  been  appointed  for  the 
State  of  Alabama,  and  in  every  county  Judges  and 
SherifTs  have  been  appointed,  and  all  these  are,  and 
for  weeks  have  been,  in  the  exercise  of  their  func- 
tions; yet  the  prayer  has  not  been  restored. 

"The  prayer  which  the  Bishop  advised  to  be  omit- 
ted is  not  a  prayer  for  the  continuance  of  military 
rule,  or  the  continuance  of  any  particular  form  of 
government,  or  any  particular  person  in  power.  It 
is  simply  a  prayer  for  the  temporal  and  spiritual  weal 
of  the  persons  in  whose  behalf  it  is  offered.  It  is  a 
prayer  to  the  High  and  Mighty  Ruler  of  the  Universe 
that  He  would  with  His  power  behold  and  bless  the 
President  of  the  United  States  and  all  others  in 
authority — that  he  would  replenish  them  with  the 
grace  of  His  Holy  Spirit  that  they  may  always  incline 
to  His  will  and  walk  in  His  ways;  that  he  would 
endow  them  plenteously  with  heavenly  gifts,  grant 

131 


RICHARD  HOOKER  WILMER 

them  in  health  and  prosperity  long  to  live,  and 
finally  after  this  life  to  attain  everlasting  joy  and 
felicity.  It  is  a  prayer  at  once  applicable  and  appro- 
priate, and  which  any  heart  not  filled  with  hatred, 
malice,  and  all  imcharitableness,  could  conscientious- 
ly offer. 

"The  advice  of  the  Bishop  to  omit  this  prayer, 
and  its  omission  by  the  clergy,  is  not  only  a  violation 
of  the  canons  of  the  Church,  but  shows  a  factious 
and  disloyal  spirit,  and  is  a  marked  insult  to  every 
loyal  citizen  within  the  Department.  Such  men  are 
unsafe  teachers,  and  not  to  be  trusted  in  places  of 
power  and  influence  over  public  opinion. 

"It  is  therefore  ordered,  pursuant  to  the  instruc- 
tions of  Major  General  Thomas,  commanding  the 
military  division  of  Tennessee,  that  said  Richard 
W'ilmer.  Bishop  of  the  Protestant  Episcopal  Church 
of  the  Diocese  of  Alabama,  and  the  Protestant  Epis- 
copal clergy  of  said  diocese  be,  and  they  are  hereby, 
forbidden  to  preach  or  perform  divine  service,  and 
that  their  places  of  worship  be  closed,  until  such  a 
time  as  said  Bishop  and  clergy  show  a  sincere  return 
to  their  allegiance  to  the  Government  of  the  United 
States,  and  give  evidence  of  a  loyal  and  patriotic 
spirit  by  offering  to  resume  the  use  of  the  prayer 
for  the  President  of  the  United  States  and  all  in  civil 
authority,  and  by  taking  the  amnesty  oath  prescribed 
by  the  President. 

"This  prohibition  shall  continue  in  each  individual 
case  until  special  application  is  made  through  the 
military  channels  of  these  headquarters  for  permis- 
sion to  preach  and  perform  divine  service,  and  until 

132 


GENERAL  ORDERS  NO.  38 

such  application   is  approved  at   these  or   superior 
headquarters. 

"District  commanders  are  required  to  see  that  this 
order  is  carried  into  effect. 

"By  order  of  Major  General  Chas.  R.  Woods. 

"FRED.  H.  WILSON,  A.  A.  G." 

This  official  order  of  suspension  was  published  in 
the  daily  papers  of  Mobile  next  morning,  and  came 
to  Bishop  Wilmer's  attention  is  no  other  way.  After 
sleeping  over  the  matter,  the  Bishop  on  the  day  fol- 
lowing, sent  the  following  communication  to  General 

Woods : 

"Mobile,  Sept.  22,  1865. 

"To  Major  Gen.  Chas.  R.  Woods, 

"Head  Qrs.  Dept.  of  Ala. 

"Dear  Sir:— 

"I  see  in  the  morning  papers  of  this  city  an  order, 
issued  under  your  authority,  forbidding  the  Bishop 
of  Alabama  and  his  Clergy  to  'preach  or  perform 
Divine  Service/  etc. 

"The  object  of  this  note  is  to  inquire  if  it  is  your 
purpose,  by  the  intervention  of  military  force,  to 
obstruct  me,  or  any  of  my  clergy,  in  the  performance 
of  ministerial  duties. 

"I  do  not,  for  a  moment,  recognize  the  right  of 
any  Civil  or  Military  Officer  to  dictate  to  me  in  the 
performance  of  my  duty  in  the  Church  of  God.  At 
the  same  time,  I  have  neither  the  wish  nor  the  power 
to  resist  military  force. 

"The  expression,  on  your  part,  of  a  determination 
to  oppose  the  celebration  of  Divine  Service  by  force 
of  arms  will  be  regarded  by  me  as  equivalent  to  a 

133 


RICHARD  HOOKER  WILMER 

forcible    ejection    from    the  precincts  of  the  Sanc- 
tuary. 

"In  making  the  above  inquiry  I  wish  clearly  to 
deline  my  position: 

"I  have  issued  a  Pastoral,  (a  part  only  of  which  is 
quoted  in  your  'General  Orders')  to  the  Clergy  and 
Laity  of  the  Diocese  of  Alabama.  The  positions 
therein  stated  were  taken  with  great  deliberation, 
and  I  see  no  cause,  and  can  see  no  cause,  other  than 
the  intervention  of  a  higher  Ecclesiastical  authority, 
to  reconsider  them. 

"Standing  upon  the  provisions  of  the  Constitution 
which  I  have  sworn  'faithfully  to  defend,'  and  also 
upon  that  inherent  independence  and  supremacy  of 
the  Church  (in  all  matters  pertaining  to  her  doctrine, 
discipline,  and  worship),  to  which  alone  I  hold  myself 
answerable  for  any  alleged  violation  of  her  laws  and 
usages,  and  which  alone,  as  I  maintain,  has  the  right 
to  suspend  the  exercise  of  Episcopal  and  Ministerial 
functions — I  do  most  respectfully,  but  most  firmly, 
enter  my  solemn  protest  against  the  interference 
expressed  in  your  'General  Orders.' 

"Will  you  do  me  the  favor  to  reply  to  this  at  your 
earliest  convenience? 

"Yours  respectfullv, 
"RICHARD  H.  WILMER, 

"Bishop  of  Alabama." 

To  this  inquiry  General  Woods  very  curtly 
responded  that  if  his  orders  were  disobeyed  he  would 
certainly  use  military  force  to  close  the  churches. 

Upon  reception  of  this  note  Bishop  Wilmer  again 
wrote  to  General  Woods  and  told  him  that  being 

134 


GENERAL  ORDERS  NO.  38 

about  to  issue  a  Pastoral  to  his  flock  he  would  like 
to  have  the  General's  permission  to  quote  his  Gen- 
eral Order  and  the  ensuing  correspondence.  But 
the  General  was  too  wary  to  be  thus  entrapped  into 
an  involuntary  acquiescence  in  the  Bishop's  exercise 
of  his  Episcopal  functions.  He  not  only  declined  to 
give  the  permission,  but  he  forbade  the  issuance  of 
the  Pastoral. 

The  Bishop  ignored  the  General's  refusal  and  his 
command.  The  Pastoral  appeared  a  few  days  later 
(September  28th),  and  it  contained  the  matter  that 
the  General  had  directed  him  not  to  publish.  In  this 
Pastoral  the  Bishop  said  : 

"It  does  not  become  me  to  enter  into  any  argu- 
ment with  the  Military  Authorities  upon  the  merits 
or  the  case.  It  may  fairly  be  presumed  that,  in 
all  things  pertaining  to  the  'Honor  of  the  Church,' 
her  Bishops  and  Clergy  are  better  informed  and 
more  deeply  concerned  than  all  other  persons.  Be- 
sides, I  could  not  enter  into  the  discussion  of  this 
question  with  any  Secular  Power  without  appearing 
to  recognize  its  rights  to  make  inquisition  into  mat- 
ters Ecclesiastical.  For,  as  I  showed  in  my  first 
Pastoral,  the  obligation  to  pray  at  all  is  a  matter  of 
religious,  and  not  of  political,  origin.  And  it  is  ob- 
vious, at  the  first  glance,  that  if  the  Secular  Authority 
be  allowed  to  prescribe,  in  one  iota,  in  regard  to  the 
worship  of  the  Church,  there  is  no  assignable  limit 
to  its  possible  usurpation  of  prerogative. 

"A  brief  exhibition  of  the  Ecclesiastical  Status  of 
the  Diocese  of  Alabama  will  enable  you,  at  a  glance, 
to  detect  the  misapprehension  of  facts  under  which 

135 


RICHARD  HOOKER  WILMER 

the  'General  Orders'  referred  to  were  dic- 
tated; and  will  serve  to  vindicate  you,  as  Church- 
men, in  pursuing  the  course  of  action  recommended 
in  this  Pastoral. 

"The  'Orders'  charge  us  with  a  violation  of  the 
Canons  of  the  Church,  and  from  this  violation  they 
argue  an  animus;  upon  the  strength  of  which  they 
are  issued. 

"Now,  to  say  nothing  of  the  incongruity  involved 
in  such  a  procedure  on  the  part  of  the  Military  Au- 
thorities towards  the  Church,  it  will  he  sufificient  for 
my  present  purpose  to  state,  and  that  for  your  sat- 
isfaction, that  there  is  no  Canon,  of  the  Church  of 
which  we  are  memhers,  that  requires  us  to  use  the 
Prayer  'ordered.'  On  the  contrary,  the  requirement 
of  the  'General  Council,'  (as  yet  unrepealed,  because 
there  has  been  no  recent  session  of  that  Body),  is  to 
use  another  Prayer — which  Prayer  has  ceased  of 
necessity. 

"Now,  the  Diocese  of  Alabama  is  a  component 
part  of  the  'General  Council,'  and  I,  as  Bishop  of  the 
Diocese,  have  never  made  any  'Declaration  of  Con- 
formity,' save  that  which  binds  me  to  the  observ- 
ance of  the  Constitution  and  Canons  of  the  said  'Gen- 
eral Council.' 

"Thus  it  will  appear  that,  in  ordering  the  resump- 
tion of  the  Prayer  for  the  President  of  the  United 
States  and  all  in  Civil  Authority,  (upon  the  restora- 
tion of  Civil  Authority),  I  was  anticipating  the  prob- 
able action  of  the  'General  Council,'  and  exercising 
a  very  questionable  power,  but  nvstifiable,  as  I 
thought,  because  done   with  the   view  of  bringing 

136 


GENERAL  ORDERS  NO.  38 

the  Diocese,  as  soon  as  possible,  into  entire  har- 
mony, in  point  of  worship,  with  the  Church  gener- 
ally.' The  condition  of  things  is  well  understood 
by  all  well-informed  Churchmen,  but  there  may  be 
many  among  you  who  need  the  information  given. 
The  above  recited  facts  were  not,  it  may  be  reason- 
ably presumed,  before  the  mind  of  the  Military  Au- 
thorities; and  the  present  case  stands,  therefore,  as 
one  among  many  other  illustrations  of  the  injustice 
which  may  sometimes  be  done  when  parties  are 
condemned,  without  trial,  by  a  tribunal  un- 
acquainted with  all  the  facts  embraced,  and  with  the 
complex  bearing  of  these  facts — to  say  nothing  of 
the  serious  consequence  likely  to  result  from  the  as- 
sumption of  jurisdiction  in  matters  Ecclesiastical. 
^  ^  ^ 

"The  issue  raised  is  not  one  of  loyalty.  I  have, 
in  my  Pastoral,  counselled  you  to  be  loyal,  and  to 
take  in  good  faith  the  Oath  of  Allegiance,  and  have 
set  you  the  example  by  taking  it  myself.  No  one 
can  fairly  and  properly  charge  disloyalty  upon  us  who 
have  taken  the  required  test,  and  live  daily  in  obe- 
dience to  the  law. 

"Nor  is  the  issue  one  of  personal  feeling  towards 
him  who  fills  the  Presidential  chair;  for  the  Church 
would  fain  that  every  one  might,  through  God's 
grace  and  Holy  Spirit,  attain  'unto  everlasting  joy 
and  felicity.'  The  Church  uses  the  'Prayer  for  the 
President,'  not  so  much  as  a  person,  as  an  imper- 
sonation of  the  Civil  Authority.  *  =5^  * 

"The  case  stands  thus:  In  the  exercise  of  my 
Episcopal  discretion,  to  which  I  am  left  by  the  ab- 

137 


RICHARD  HOOKER  WILMER 

sence  of  any  authoritative  Church  legislation,  I  have 
decided  that  'the  Prayer'  is  inapplicable  to  the  exist- 
ing condition  of  things.  On  the  other  hand,  the 
Military  Authorities  issue  'Orders'  that  it  shall  be 
used  at  once,  and  that  all  the  churches  shall  be  closed 
until  we  accede  to  the  demand.  Thus  the  real  issue 
before   us  is  this:     shall  the  secular  or  the 

ECCLESIASTICAL  POWER  REGULATE  THE  WORSHIP  OF 
THE  CHURCH? 

"A  higher  than  any  earthly  'Order'  comes  in  here 
to  claim  and  control  our  obedience.  The  Principali- 
ties of  this  world  can  neither  ordain  the  Clergy  nor 
suspend  them.  In  matters  pertaining  to  His  King- 
dom, we  must,  in  accordance  with  the  teaching  of 
the  Apostle.  'Obey  God  rather  than  men.'  Think 
for  a  moment :  That  an  officer  of  the  army  under- 
takes to  do  in  regard  to  the  Church,  by  shutting  up 
the  sanctuaries  of  a  whole  Diocese,  what  the  General 
Council  of  said  Church  would  not  dare  to  do ! 

"I  counsel  you,  beloved  Brethren  of  the  Clergy 
and  Laity,  in  the  Name  of  God,  and  for  the  honor  of 
His  Church,  to  stand  up  for  and  to  maintain,  at 
whatever  cost,  the  real  issue  now  before  us.  Be  as- 
sured, that  man  has  no  nobler  mission  than  to  de- 
fend, and,  if  need  be,  to  suffer  for,  the  right.  Re- 
member that  the  communications  with  God's  mercy 
seat  cannot  be  obstructed  by  any  created  power,  and 
that  the  compensation  of  Divine  Goodness  will  sup- 
ply all  our  needs,  through  the  riches  of  His  Grace  in 
Jesus  Christ,  our  only  Lord  and  Master." 

This  strong  counsel  was  followed.  Everywhere 
individual  private  prayer  was  made.     Where  it  was 

138 


GENERAL  ORDERS  NO.  38 

possible,  two  or  three  gathered  together  in  private 
houses  in  Christ's  Name.  Where  sojdiers  were  sta- 
tioned the  churches  were  closed,  and  when,  upon 
the  closing  of  St.  John's  Church,  Montgomery,  the 
congregation  attempted  to  meet  in  Hamner  Hall, 
they  were  dispersed  by  soldiers  at  the  point  of  the 
bayonet.  But  where  there  were  no  soldiers  the 
churches  were  opened  and  the  usual  services  main- 
tained, and  never  could  the  zeal  of  the  military  sup- 
press the  extemporized  chapels  that  sprang  up  in 
private  houses.  Throughout  the  period  personal 
freedom  was  not  denied  the  Bishop,  and  he  con- 
tinued to  confirm  and  to  issue  Pastorals,  much  to  the 
indignation  of  the  General  who  had  suspended  him 
from  his  functions,  who  now  began  to  threaten  im- 
prisonment and  possible  death,  but  who  dared  not 
place  him  under  arrest  for  an  offence  of  which  no 
law  of  the  country,  either  civil  or  military,  took  cog- 
nizance. 

The  following  extract  from  the  Bishop's  Journal 
for  this  period  will  show  how  he  went  on  attending 
to  his  duties: 

Sept.  28th.  I  issued  a  Pastoral  to  the  Clergy  and 
Laity  of  the  Diocese,  on  the  occasion  of  the 
Churches  being  closed  by  military  force. 

Oct.  1st.  (i6th  Sunday  after  Trinity.)  Cele- 
brated Divine  Service,  and  preached  in  a  private 
house. 

Oct.  4th.  Administered  the  Holy  Eucharist  to  a 
sick  person  in  private. 

Oct.  8th.  (17th  Sunday  after  Trinity.)  Preached 
in  a  private  house  in  Mississippi  City. 

139 


RICHARD  HOOKER  WILMER 

Oct.  15th.  (i8th  Sunday  after  Trinity.)  Offi- 
ciated in  a  private  house. 

Nov.  1st.  (All  Saints'  Day.)  Celebrated  Divine 
Service  in  the  Chapel  of  the  "Church  Home  School"; 
preached  and  celebrated  the  Holy  Communion. 

Nov.  5th.  (21st  Sunday  after  Trinity.)  Attended 
Divine  Service  at  Hamner  Hall,  Montgomery,  and. 
after  a  sermon  by  Bishop  Green,  I  addressed  the 
congregation. 

Nov.  8th.  I  met  the  Bishops  and  Clerical  and 
Lay  Deputies  of  the  Southern  Dioceses  in  "General 
Council,"  and  participated  in  the  opening  services. 
This  and  the  two  following  days  were  spent  in  at- 
tendance upon  the  sittings  of  the  "Council." 

Nov.  1 2th.  (22(1  Sunday  after  Trinity.)  Preach- 
ed in  the  Church  of  the  Atonement,  Augusta,  Geor- 
gia. 

Nov.  15th.  Visited  Hamner  Hall,  Montgomery, 
and  witnessed  with  pleasure  its  growth  and  pros- 
perity. 

Nov.  19th.  (23rd  Sunday  after  Trinity.)  Preach- 
ed at  my  own  residence. 

Nov.  26th.  (24th  Sunday  after  Trinity.)  Preach- 
ed in  the  chapel  of  the  "Church  Home  School." 

Nov.  28th.     United  in  Holy   Matrimony  

and  . 

Dec.  3rd.  (ist  Sunday  in  Advent.)  Preached  at 
the  residence  of  the  Rev.  Dr.  Massey. 

Dec.  loth.  (2nd  Sunday  in  Advent.)  Attended 
Divine  Service  at  Chapel  of  "Church  Home  School." 

Dec.  23rd.  Confirmed  three  persons  in  Trinity 
Church,  Mobile. 

140 


GENERAL  ORDERS  NO.  38 

Dec.  24th.  (4th  Sunday  in  Advent.)  Preached 
in  the  Chapel  of  the  "Church  Home  School." 

Dec.  25th.  (Christmas  Day.)  Preached  and 
celebrated  the  Holy  Communion  at  last  named  place. 

1866. — Jan.  1st.  Summoned  a  Special  Council  of 
the  Diocese. 

Meanwhile  the  Bishop  was  attempting  to  change 
this  condition  of  affairs,  which  was  hampering  the 
Church  in  her  attempt  to  exercise  her  appointed 
functions.  His  first  attempt  was  to  secure  from  the 
General  Convention  of  the  Church  in  the  United 
States  a  solemn  protest  against  secular  interference 
with  ecclesiastical  procedure.  On  the  theory  of  that 
Church  the  Diocese  of  Alabama  was  one  of  its  com- 
ponent parts,  and,  therefore,  a  fit  object  for  help. 
The  attempt  that  he  made  was  not  a  memorial  or 
appeal  to  the  General  Convention,  which  was  then 
sitting  in  Philadelphia;  Bishop  Wilmer  was  the  last 
man  to  put  himself  in  the  attitude  of  suppliant  to  that 
body.  Neither  was  it  a  claim  made  on  the  Plouse  of 
Bishops.  What  he  did  was  to  direct  a  communica- 
tion to  three  bishops  personally  who  had  given  evi- 
dence of  sympathy  and  largeness  of  vision — John 
Henry  Hopkins,  Thomas  March  Clark,  and  Arthur 
Cleveland  Coxe — and  who  possessed  such  wisdom 
and  influence  that  they  could  bring  the  whole  sub- 
ject matter  before  the  House  of  Bishops  in  proper 
form.  "As  a  dutiful  son  of  the  Church,"  he  wrote 
to  these  brethren,  "I  will  submit  myself  unquestion- 
ably to  her  decisions,  and  hear  thankfully  her  ad- 
monitions, even  when  contrary  to  my  private  judg- 
ment.    But,  as  I  hope  to  receive  mercy  at  the  last 

141 


RICHARD  HOOKER  WILMER 

day,  I  will  not  move  in  matters  pertaining  to  the 
supremacy  of  the  Church  within  her  sphere,  at  the 
dictation  of  any  secular  power,  civil  or  military." 
He  explicitly  disclaimed  any  solicitation  of  help  for 
himself,  trusting  that  he  had  sufificient  of  the  grace 
of  God  to  be  able  to  maintain  his  own  stand.  He 
also  granted  that  they  would  take  issue  with  him  in 
his  directions  concerning  the  use  of  the  Prayer  that 
had  occasioned  all  the  trouble.  But  he  expressed 
the  hope  that  the  importance  of  the  principle  in- 
volved might  unite  in  public  assertion  of  the 
Church's  supremacy  those  who  differed  as  to  his  im- 
mediate application  of  the  principle. 

His  hope  was  vain.  Political  feeling  was  too  high 
for  the  members  of  the  Convention  to  view  the 
Bishop's  action  with  dispassionate  eye.  The  Con- 
vention was  blind  to  the  principle,  and  saw  only  the 
application.  The  House  of  Bishops,  acting  inde- 
pendently of  the  other  House,  did  send  a  committee 
to  Washington  to  procure,  if  possible,  the  favor  of 
a  revocation  of  the  military  interdict;  but  the  com- 
mittee was  the  smallest  that  could  be  appointed — a 
committee  of  one — and  that  Bishop,  Mcllvaine,  of 
Ohio,  who  was  supposed  to  have  some  influence  at 
the  White  House  because  of  the  work  he  had  done 
in  England  in  turning  popular  sentiment  against 
recognition  of  the  Confederacy,  failed  to  accomplish 
the  purpose  of  his  mission. 

The  Bishop's  next  step  was  to  appeal  to  the  Pro- 
visional Governor  of  the  State,  Lewis  E.  Parsons. 
General  Order  No.  38  had  stated  that  there  was  a 
civil  Governor,  and  the  Bishop  determined  to  see  for 

142 


GENERAL  ORDERS  NO.  38 

himself  how  much  authority  the  civil  government 
possessed.  In  October  he  called  on  the  Governor 
to  demonstrate  the  truth  of  General  Woods's  asser- 
tion that  "the  military  authority  was  subservient  and 
subordinate  to  the  civil  authority,"  by  freeing  the 
Churchmen  of  Alabama  from  coercion  for  an  offence 
not  catalogued  in  any  books  of  law.  The  Governor 
was  compelled  to  acknowledge,  in  effect,  that  his 
hands  were  tied,  and  that  he  could  do  nothing  in 
opposition  to  the  military  pronouncement,  but  in  a 
very  courteous  note  he  promised  to  lay  the  wdiole 
affair  before  President  Andrew  Johnson.  This  note 
was  shortly  followed  by  another  stating  that  he  had 
fulfilled  his  promise,  but  that  the  President  declined 
to  consider  the  matter. 

On  November  27th  the  Bishop  himself  made  di- 
rect appeal  to  the  President,  calling  it  to  his  atten- 
tion that  the  Constitution,  the  supreme  law,  pro- 
hibits Congress  from  interfering  wdth  religious  wor- 
ship, and  that  Congress  cannot  allow  her  military 
arm  to  do  what  the  Constitution  expressly  forbids 
to  her  civil  arm;  representing  that  he  found  himself, 
not  having  been  accused  as  a  lawbreaker,  subjected 
to  the  operation  of  pains  and  penalties,  and  assailed 
with  ignominious  epithets;  af^rming  that  even  upon 
the  inadmissible  supposition  that  he  had  been 
guilty  of  violating  the  laws  of  his  own  Church,  the 
secular  power  was  not  competent  to  construe  and 
enforce  her  rubrics  and  canons;  and  demanding  in 
equity  and  constitutional  law  that  the  unauthorita- 
tive General  Order  No.  38  be  rescinded. 

The  President  kept  this  appeal  under  advisement 

143 


RICHARD  HOOKER  WILMER 

several  weeks.  Twice  already  he  had  declined  to 
interfere  in  the  matter,  but  the  persistency  with  which 
the  question  returned  for  further  consideration  made 
him  review  it  on  its  merits.  On  its  merits  there 
could  be  only  one  conclusion,  and  the  President 
finally  j^ave  directions  that  the  obnoxious  order 
should  be  rescinded  by  the  same  authority  that  had 
promuhi^ated  it.  Much  against  his  will,  and  with 
pen  that  manifested  much  bitterness  of  soul,  General 
Thomas  withdrew  the  offensive  General  Order  No. 
38.  In  tone  this  Order  was,  because  of  conscious 
impotence,  even  more  violent  than  the  former. 

"HEADQUARTERS 
"MILITARY  DIVISION  OF  THE  TENNESSEE. 

"Nashville.  Tenn.,  Dec.  22,  1865. 
"GENERAL  ORDERS,  NO.  40. 

"Armed  resistance  to  the  authority  of  the  United 
States  having  been  put  down,  the  President,  on  the 
29th  of  May  last,  issued  his  Proclamation  of  Am- 
nesty, declaring  that  armed  resistance  having  ceased 
in  all  quarters,  he  invited  those  lately  in  rebellion  to 
reconstruct  and  restore  civil  authority,  thus  pro- 
claiming the  magnanimity  of  our  Government 
towards  all,  no  matter  how  criminal  or  how  deserv- 
ing of  punishment. 

"Alarmed  at  this  imminent  and  impending  peril 
to  the  cause  in  which  he  had  embarked  with  all  his 
heart  and  mind,  and  desiring  to  check,  if  possible, 
the  spread  of  popular  approbation  and  grateful  ap- 
preciation of  the  magnanimous  policy  of  the  Presi- 
dent in  his  efforts  to  bring  the  people  of  the  United 
States  back  to  their  former  friendl}^  and  national  re- 

144 


GENERAL  ORDERS  NO.  38 

lations  one  with  another,  an  individual,  styling  him- 
self Bishop  of  Alabama,  forgetting  his  mission  to 
preach  peace  on  earth  and  good  will  towards  man, 
and  being  animated  with  the  same  spirit  which 
through  temptation  beguiled  the  mother  of  men  to 
the  commission  of  the  first  sin — thereby  entailing 
eternal  toil  and  trouble  on  earth — issued,  from  be- 
hind the  shield  of  his  office,  his  manifesto  of  the  20th 
of  June  last  to  the  Clergy  of  the  Episcopal  Church 
of  Alabama,  directing  them  to  omit  the  usual  and 
customary  prayer  for  the  President  of  the  United 
States  and  all  others  in  authority,  until  the  troops  of 
the  United  States  had  been  removed  from  the  limits 
of  Alabama;  cunningly  justifying  this  treasonable 
course,  by  plausibly  presenting  to  the  minds  of  the 
people  that,  civil  authority  not  yet  having  been  re- 
stored in  Alabama,  there  was  no  occasion  for  the 
use  of  said  prayer,  as  such  prayer  was  intended  for 
the  civil  authority  alone,  and  as  the  military  was  the 
only  authority  in  Alabama  it  was  manifestly  improper 
to  pray  for  the  continuance  of  military  rule. 

"This  man,  in  his  position  of  teacher  of  religion, 
charity,  and  good  fellowship  with  his  brothers,  whose 
paramount  duty  as  such  should  have  been  character- 
ized by  frankness  and  freedom  from  all  cunning,  thus 
took  advantage  of  the  sanctity  of  his  position  to  mis- 
lead the  minds  of  those  who  naturally  regarded  him 
as  a  teacher  in  whom  they  could  trust,  and  attempted 
to  lead  them  back  into  the  labyrinths  of  treason. 

"For  this  covert  and  cunning  act  he  was  deprived 
of  the  privileges  of  citizenship,  in  so  far  as  the  right 
to  officiate  as  a  minister  of  the  Gospel,  because  it  was 

145 


RICHARD  HOOKER  WILMER 

evident  he  could  not  be  trusted  to  officiate  and  con- 
fine his  teachings  to  matters  of  rehgion  alone — in 
fact,  that  religious  matters  were  but  a  secondary  con- 
sideration in  his  mind,  he  having  taken  an  early  op- 
portunity to  subvert  the  Church  to  the  justification 
and  dissemination  of  his  treasonable  sentiments. 

"As  it  is,  however,  manifest  that  so  far  from  en- 
tertaining the  same  political  views  as  Bishop  Wilmer 
the  people  of  Alabama  are  honestly  endeavoring  to 
restore  the  civil  authority  in  that  state,  in  conformity 
with  the  requirements  of  the  Constitution  of  the 
United  States,  and  to  repudiate  their  acts  of  hostil- 
ity during  the  past  four  years,  and  have  accepted 
with  a  loyal  and  becoming  spirit  the  magnanimous 
terms  offered  them  by  the  President;  therefore,  the 
restrictions  heretofore  imposed  upon  the  Episcopal 
clergy  of  Alabama  are  removed,  and  Bishop  Wilmer 
is  left  to  that  remorse  of  conscience  consequent  to 
the  exposure  and  failure  of  the  diabolical  schemes 
of  designing   and   corrupt   minds. 

"By  command  of  Major-General  Thomas, 

"WM.  D.  WHIPPLE, 
"Assistant  Adjutant-General." 
This  order  was  not  promulgated  from  Mobile,  by 
General  Woods,  until  January  loth,  1866.  Three 
days  later  (January  13th),  civil  authority  having 
been  restored.  Bishop  Wilmer  issued  his  final  Pas- 
toral dealing  with  the  matter,  calling  on  the  clergy 
and  laity  to  use  the  prayer  for  the  President  of  the 
United  States  as  it  stood  in  the  Book  of  Common 
Prayer. 

The  issuance  of  this  Pastoral  was  neither  a  re- 

146 


GENERAL  ORDERS  NO.  38 

treat  nor  a  compromise.  The  Bishop  had  never 
changed  his  position.  On  the  occasion  of  the  clos- 
ing of  the  churches  he  had  written :  "Should  the  Gen- 
eral Council,  of  which  the  Diocese  of  Alabama  is  a 
component  part,  order  any  prayer  in  place  of  that 
which  has  ceased  of  necessity,  then,  from  that  time 
forth,  the  ordering  of  the  Council  would  be  decisive 
as  the  supreme  law  of  the  Churches  constituting  said 
Council."  The  General  Council  had  provided  for 
such  a  prayer  while  the  Alabama  churches  were 
closed,  but  this  provision  was  not  to  have  force  of 
law  in  any  diocese  until  approved  by  its  Bishop  or  its 
Diocesan  Council.  It  was  the  General  Council's  in- 
tention to  leave  Bishop  Wilmer  with  free  hand  in 
settling  his  contention.  So  long  as  military  dicta- 
tion continued,  so  long  did  the  Bishop  withhold  his 
approval  of  the  prayer.  So  soon  as  secular  pressure 
was  withdrawn  his  approval  was  given  freely  and 
gladly. 

The  net  result  of  secular  interference  was  to  delay 
the  use  in  Alabama  of  the  Prayer  for  the  President 
of  the  United  States  just  two  months.  What  the 
Church  refused  to  do  of  compulsion  she  did  of  her 
own  free  will.  It  was  of  infinitely  greater  import- 
ance to  resist  secular  dictation  than  to  pray  for  the 
President. 

The  Bishop  was  severely  criticized  through  many 
years  for  his  position  in  the  affair  recited  in  this  chap- 
ter, but  thirty  years  after,  when  time  gave  suf^cient 
perspective,  and  the  blindness  of  prejudice  had  large- 
ly disappeared,  no  one  disputed  the  conclusion  of  the 
Historiographer  of  the  American  Church,  the  Rt. 

147 


RICHARD  HOOKER  WILMER 

ally  expressed  its  conviction  of  the  indissolubility 
of  the  Union,  and,  therefore,  except  by  schism,  of 
the  Church  within  the  Union.  It  was  the  same  con- 
viction that  led  many  clergymen,  notably  of  Phila- 
delphia, and  not  a  few  bishops  to  use  rather  intem- 
perate language  in  public  concerning  those  Church- 
men who  preferred  to  be  governed  by  the  logic  of 
events  rather  than  by  that  of  closet  philosophy,  and 
who,  knowing  that  the  Confederate  States  were  a 
dc  facto  government,  whether  de  jure  ,or  not,  fol- 
lowed the  ancient  custom  of  legislative  independence 
for  that  part  of  the  Church  of  God  within  the  limits  of 
the  dc  facto  government.  Wrath  grew  boundless  and 
its  expression  was  not  trammeled  by  conventionali- 
ties of  speech,  when  the  Church  in  the  Confederate 
States  ignored  the  Church  in  the  United  States  in 
all  matters  pertaining  to  the  election  and  consecra- 
tion of  Bishop  W'ilmer.  The  words  "traitors," 
"rebels,"  "schismatics"  appeared  in  many  diocesan 
journals,  pastoral  letters,  and  General  Convention 
resolutions.  Dr.  Alexander  H.  Vinton,  formerly  a 
warm  personal  friend  of  Dr.  Wilmer  and  a  great  ad- 
mirer of  his  learning,  even  introduced  a  resolution, 
in  the  Convention  of  1862,  condemning  the  action 
of  the  Bishops  who  had  consecrated  him  as  "irregu- 
lar, uncanonical,  and  schismatical,"  and  proposing 
that  his  jurisdiction  in  Alabama  be  declared  "void 
and  of  none  effect."  It  is  a  little  strange  that  the  reso- 
lution, introduced  a  full  six  months  after  the  conse- 
cration, proposed  specifically  to  censure  a  Bishop, 
Davis  of  South  Carolina,  for  doing  something  he 
never  did ! 

150 


BISHOP  AND  THE  GENERAL  CONVENTION 

With  the  fall  of  the  Confederacy  and  the  approach 
of  the  General  Convention  of  1865  it  became  neces- 
sary for  the  Southern  dioceses  to  determine  what 
course  they  would  pursue.  Pronounced  differences 
of  opinion  arose  at  once.  The  General  Council  had 
adjourned  at  Augusta,  in  1862,  to  meet  in  Mobile  in 
November,  1865.  The  General  Convention  was  to 
meet  a  month  earlier.  Before  the  meeting  of  the 
General  Convention  it  must  be  decided  by  the  South- 
ern bishops  and  their  dioceses  whether,  without 
joint  action  but  each  on  his  own  responsibility,  they 
should  singly  return  to  the  legislative  body  of  the 
National  Church,  or  whether  the  compact  should  be 
held  sacred  until  every  Southern  diocese  should  be 
expressly  relieved  by  the  collective  action  of  their 
representatives  assembled  in  General  Council. 

Some  claimed  that  the  dissolution  of  the  Confed- 
eracy carried  with  it  of  necessity  the  dissolution  of 
the  Southern  Church,  and  rendered  formal  action 
unnecessary,  perhaps  impossible.  Of  such  opinion 
were  Bishop  Johns  of  Virginia,  Bishop  Atkinson  of 
North  Carolina,  and  Bishop  Lay  of  the  Southwest. 

But  the  majority  of  Southern  bishops,  led  by 
Bishop  Elliott  of  Georgia,  Bishop  Green  of  Mis- 
sissippi, and  Bishop  Wilmer,  contended  that  this 
view  was  entirely  Erastian  and  un-Catholic;  that  with 
absolute  independence  of  Church  and  State  the 
strongest  claim  that  can  be  set  forward  in  behalf  of 
any  association  of  dioceses  within  geographical  or 
political  boundaries  is  the  consideration  of  expe- 
diency, which  every  contracting  party  must  deter- 
mine for  himself;  and  that  a  return  to  the  former 

151 


RICHARD  HOOKER  WILMER 

would  represent  the  Southern  dioceses  in  the  Gen- 
eral Convention  was  still,  according  to  the  Presi- 
dent's proclamation,  "an  unpardoned  rebel  an^ 
traitor,"  because  every  one  of  these  men  had  ob- 
tained such  judicial  or  military  rank,  or  possessed 
such  an  amount  of  property,  as  excluded  him  from 
the  general  amnesty;  and  it  was  almost  certain  that 
I  he  men  who  called  these  prospective  deputies  rebels 
and  traitors  would  have  the  courage  of  their  con- 
victions, and,  on  the  floor  of  the  House  of  Deputies, 
question  the  propriety  of  allowing  rebels  and  traitors 
to  participate  in  the  deliberations  of  a  loyal  Church. 

This  letter  pleased  Bishop  Green  of  Mississippi 
so  much  that  he  adopted  it  as  his  own,  declaring  it 
a  "noble  letter,"  and  well  calculated  to  show  our 
brethren  "that  there  is  but  one  manly  and  self-re- 
specting course  that  we  Caii  pursue."  It  served 
another  purpose  also :  It  broke  up  a  prospective 
meeting  of  the  Southern  Bishops,  which  Bishop  El- 
liott had  called  to  meet  in  Augusta  on  September 
27th  to  confer  on  a  mode  of  procedure,  and  to  which 
he  had  with  especial  warmth  bidden  Wilmer,  saying 
to  him,  "I  can  assure  you  it  will  not  be  your  funeral." 
But  again,  in  a  letter  to  Bishop  Wilmer,  written  Sep- 
tember I  St,  did  Bishop  Green  interpret  correctly  the 
mind  of  the  majority  of  the  Southern  Bishops. 
"Four  days  ago  I  wrote  to  Bishop  Elliott,  asking 
him  if  the  meeting  of  our  Bishops  on  the  27th  could 
not  be  dispensed  with.  I  really  do  not  see  any  ne- 
cessity for  it.  We  are  on  the  right  track  now,  viz., 
the  track  of  'masterly  inactivity.'  Our  'strength  is 
to  sit  still,'  and  wait  the  flow  of  events.     And  I  can 

154 


BISHOP  AND  THE  GENERAL  CONVENTION 

not  well  see  any  other  conclusion  that  a  consultation 
could  bring  us  to.  Do  write  to  our  good  brother, 
and  add  your  request  to  mine." 

Bishop  Hopkins  would  not  yet  despair  of  bring- 
ing the  Southern  Bishops  to  the  approaching  Gen- 
eral Convention.  On  August  31st  he  made  an- 
other appeal,  this  time  directly  to  Bishop  Wilmer, 
who  had  unwittingly  become  the  mouthpiece  of 
Southern  sentiment.  After  reviewing  the  consid- 
erations of  church  polity  and  personal  trials  which 
Bishop  Wilmer  had  urged  in  his  letter,  he  said  with 
utmost  frankness: 

"Your  apprehensions  of  speeches  and  resolutions 
being  offered,  which  would  be  exceedingly  distaste- 
ful, are  certainly  reasonable,  and  there  is  a  strong 
probability  that  the  event  will  abundantly  justify 
your  anticipations.  But  so  far  is  this  from  being  an 
argument  for  your  staying  away,  that  it  is,  in  my 
humble  judgment,  a  powerful  reason  for  your  at- 
tendance. Your  presence  would  be  the  best  safe- 
guard of  the  Convention  from  any  unseemly  exhibi- 
tion of  the  kind,  and  your  absence  would  give  the 
largest  encouragement  to  the  temper  of  fanaticism. 
The  great  majority  of  both  Houses,  I  feel  sure, 
would  put  down,  as  disorderly,  any  expression  that 
would  give  needless  pain  to  their  Southern  breth- 
ren. And  the  Church  would  thus  have  a  noble  op- 
portunity of  exhibiting  the  contrast  which  has  al- 
ways (with  only  one  exception)  distinguished  her 
Conventions  from  the  assemblies  of  Presbyterian 
and  Methodistical  denominations. 

"On  this  ground,  independently  of  the  mere  duty, 

155 


RICHARD  HOOKER  WILMER 

I  acknowledge  that  I  am  extremely  anxious  for  your 
attendance.  The  unbroken  display  of  union  in  our 
Body,  after  the  sore  trials  and  sufferings  of  the  past 
four  years,  would  be  the  grandest  spectacle  which 
Christendom  has  seen  since  the  days  of  the  martyrs, 
and  I  am  much  mistaken  if  it  would  not  raise  a  spirit 
of  active  aid  and  sympathy  for  the  Churches  in  the 
South,  which  w^ould  be  felt  throughout  the  land,  and 
repay,  fourfold,  the  sacrifice  of  feeling. 

"All  this  good  result  will  be  lost,  1  fear,  by  delay- 
ing the  act  of  our  reunion." 

In  similar  vein  did  Bishop  Horatio  Potter,  of  New 
York,  write  to  Bishop  Elliott :  "I  cannot  convey  to 
you  an  adequate  expression  of  my  conviction  that 
if  the  North  can  see  hope  of  a  cordial  meeting  of  its 
action,  there  will  be  such  an  outpouring  of  warm  and 
fraternal  feeling  and  kind  offices  as  the  world  hard- 
ly ever  saw."  In  communicating  this  sentiment  to 
Bishop  Wilmer,  Bishop  Elliott  added:  "Both  I  and 
my  Diocese  prefer  re-union,  under  the  present  con- 
dition of  things,  to  separation,  but  as  I  said  in  my 
first  letter  to  Lay  and  Atkinson  and  in  my  letters  to 
Hopkins  (of  the  Church  Journal)  and  Potter,  I  ex- 
pect and  desire  it  be  done  thro'  the  action  of  the 
Convention  on  the  one  hand  and  the  Council  on  the 
other;  but  I  am  not  in  authority  in  this  matter,  and 
other  Bishops  and  Dioceses,  who  are  yet  to  act — 
Virginia,  North  Carolina,  South  Carolina,  Florida, — 
may  have  decided  otherwise,  and  thus  rendered  a 
meeting  of  our  Council  a  farce.  You  have  no  idea 
how  strong  the  tide  is  running  in  all  the  Dioceses 
north  of  us  in  favor  of  re-union,  and  should  the  Gen- 

156 


BISHOP  AND  THE  GENERAL  CONVENTION 

eral  Convention  at  Philadelphia  act  cordially,  I  sin- 
cerely believe  we  should  not  be  able  to  gather  a 
Council  at  Mobile;  and  such  failure  would  be  very 
mortifying".  *  *  * 

"I  do  not  see  that  we  differ  in  any  material  point, 
except  that  I  believe  the  feeling  in  the  conservative 
portion  of  the  Church  at  the  North  to  be  stronger 
than  you  suppose  it." 

In  like  spirit  of  amity  the  Domestic  Missionary 
Society  made  the  Southern  Bishops  offers  of  aid  for 
their  missionary  clergy,  and  a  committee  of  the  Dio- 
cese of  Pennsylvania  gave  them  a  cordial  invitation 
to  "free  quarters  and  kind  entertainment"  in  Phila- 
delphia during  the  Convention. 

Despite  the  insistent  advances  of  Northern  con- 
servatives the  Southern  Bishops  and  Dioceses  held 
by  their  compact,  with  the  exception  of  the  Bishop 
and  Diocese  of  North  Carolina  and  the  Missionary 
Bishop  of  the  Southwest.  These  two  Bishops,  At- 
kinson and  Lay,  in  accordance  with  certain  princi- 
ples which  they  had  set  forth,  and  in  firm  belief  that 
their  very  presence  in  Philadelphia  would  facilitate 
the  healing  of  the  breach  in  the  Church,  did  not  hesi- 
tate to  attend  the  Convention  in  direct  opposition 
to  the  wishes  and  advice  of  their  brethren.  Just  be- 
fore the  opening  service  on  October  4th  they  ap- 
peared in  the  throng  about  the  open  doors  of  St. 
Luke's  Church,  but  no  amount  of  persuasion  could 
induce  them  to  participate  in  the  formal  procession 
of  the  House  of  Bishops.  Before  the  service  was 
ended,  however,  they  yielded  to  the  repeated  solicita- 
tion   of   friends,    and    clad    in    their    episcopal    vest- 

157 


RICHARD  HOOKER  WILMER 

ments,  entered  the  chancel  and  took  their  places  with 
their  brother  Bishops.  Applause  could  barely  be 
restrained  at  their  entrance.  Upon  the  assembling 
of  the  House  of  Bishops  for  organization  and  the 
transaction  of  business  the  two  Southern  Bishops 
absented  themselves,  but  sent  a  message  asking  upon 
what  terms  they  were  to  be  admitted.  Answer  was 
returned  through  the  Bishop  of  New  York  that  they 
must  come  without  waiting  for  "terms,"  and  that 
they  could  "trust  all  to  the  love  and  honor  of  their 
brethren."  A  most  cordial,  almost  an  ofificial,  re- 
ception was  extended  to  the  returning  brethren  as 
they  took  their  seats  in  the  House  shortly  after. 

Of  like  spirit  was  the  action  which  the  House  of 
Bishops  took,  at  the  earliest  practicable  moment,  in 
the  case  of  Bishop  Wilmer.  Their  fifth  message  to 
the  House  of  Clerical  and  Lay  Deputies  declared 
that  "this  House  hereby  accepts  the  Right  Rev.  Dr. 
Wilmer  as  Bishop  of  Alabama,  and  consents  to  his 
episcopate  as  such,  provided,  that  the  House  of  Cleri- 
cal and  Lay  Deputies  is  willing  to  signify  its  concur- 
rence in  such  acceptance  and  consent,  and  that  here- 
after the  Bishop  of  Alabama  shall  transmit  to  the 
Presiding  Bishop  the  promise  of  conformity  com- 
prised in  the  'Office  for  the  Consecration  of  a 
Bishop'  in  the  Ordinal."  With  this  formal  message 
ihey  communicated  to  the  House,  "informally,"  an- 
other resolution,  whose  tone  indicated  that  a  certain 
element  in  the  House  of  Bishops  had  needed  con- 
ciliation before  it  would  agree  to  the  recognition  of 
Bishop  W^ilmer's  jurisdiction.  This  was  the  informal 
resolution:  "Resolved,  That  we  hereby  express  to 

158 


BISHOP  AND  THE  GENERAL  CONVENTION 

the  Bishop  of  Alabama  our  fraternal  regret  at  the 
issue  of  his  late  pastoral  letter  concerning  the  use  of 
the  Prayer  for  the  President  of  the  United  States 
and  assured  confidence  that  no  further  occasion  for 
such  regrets  will  occur."  But  even  with  this  fly  in 
the  ointment  the  Bishops  had  gone  to  the  heart  of 
the  matter.  The  past  was  dead.  Wilmer  was  al- 
ready a  Bishop.  The  case  would  not  permit  disci- 
pline, and  cool  judgment  did  not  desire  it.  Canons 
had  never  been  made  with  a  view  to  the  revolution- 
ary conditions  from  which  Church  and  Nation  were 
emerging. 

At  first  the  action  of  the  Bishops  did  not  at  all 
meet  the  approval  of  the  House  of  Clerical  and  Lay 
Deputies.  In  this  House  were  many  clergymen,  as 
able,  in  many  cases,  as  the  Bishops,  but  not  yet 
sobered  by  the  weight  of  responsibility  that  steadied 
the  members  of  the  upper  House.  Here  were  law- 
yers and  publicists  who  had  been  instant  for  war, 
who  had  been  patriotically  urgent  for  the  stamping 
out  of  the  rebellion  and  the  subjugation  of  the  rebels, 
but  who  could  not  understand  that  the  war  was  over. 
And  here  were  demagogues  who  gladly  sought  the 
opportunity  that  so  often  tempts  men  to  "play  to 
the  galleries."  But  also  here  were  staunch  and  able 
lovers  of  the  Union  who.  having  fought  for  the  pre- 
servation of  an  undivided  country,  were  now  intent 
on  welding  together  the  broken  fragments;  states- 
men who,  having  proclaimed  to  the  world  the  in- 
dissolubility of  the  Union,  would  demonstrate  to  the 
world  the  kindred  nobility  of  spirit  of  former  antag- 
onists in  forgetting  the  past  and  striving  only  for  the 

159 


RICHARD  HOOKER  WILMER 

future;  Churchmen  who,  having  seen  the  Bodv  of 
Christ  rent  in  twain  by  economic  and  political  ques- 
tions, would  now  pour  in  oil  and  wine  and  care  for 
the  bruised  and  bleeding  fellow  Christian. 

These  were  the  forces  that  contended  over  the 
resolution  of  the  House  of  Bishops.  For  two  days 
the  debate  was  vigorous,  and,  at  times,  intemperate. 
At  the  outset  Mr.  Felix  R.  Brunot  of  Pennsylvania 
urged  that  the  election  of  Bishop  W'ilmer  be  declared 
void  until  a  majority  of  all  bishops  and  dioceses  in 
the  United  States  had  given  consent  thereto.  Dr. 
Alexander  H.  Vinton  of  New  York  took  the  stand 
that  all  acts  of  the  Southern  Church  should  be  con- 
sidered null  and  void,  and  then  be  re-enacted  by  the 
General  Convention,  uidic  pro  tunc,  to  legalize  them; 
insisting  that  the  Southern  men  must,  as  an  indis- 
pensable prerequisite  of  welcome,  make  a  Prodigal 
Son  confession,  and  that  "if  they  come  with  any  scin- 
tillation or  declaration  that  their  acts  have  been 
right,  they  meet  with  opposition  at  once,  and  union 
becomes  an  impossibility."  The  Rev.  R.  \V.  Oliver 
of  Kansas  contended  that  it  would  be  time  enough 
"to  bow  the  knee  before  the  persons  seeking  admis- 
sion when  they  themselves  desire  to  be  the  subject 
of  our  personal  consideration  and  kindness."  The 
Rev.  Dr.  Goodwin  of  Philadelphia  strongly  objected 
"to  prostrating  the  Church  and  her  Canons  at  the 
feet  of  the  rebellious  men  who  had  made  no  conces- 
sions and  requests  for  merciful  treatment";  and  on 
the  final  vote  his  was  the  one  voice  raised  in  objec- 
tion to  the  adopting  of  the  message  of  the  House 
of  Bishops — though,   "for  the  sake  of  the  record," 

i6o 


BISHOP  AND  THE  GENERAL  CONVENTION 

even  he  at  last  withdrew  his  formal  objection. 
It  is  remarkable,  however,  that  of  the  prominent 
members  of  the  House  who  participated  in  the  de- 
bate, who  afterwards  rose  to  greater  eminence  in 
the  Church,  and  who,  therefore,  may  be  justly 
deemed  to  have  been  true  representatives  of  the 
mind  of  the  Church,  every  one  favored  the  recogni- 
tion of  Bishop  Wilmer's  jurisdiction  and  the  accept- 
ance of  him  as  a  member  of  the  House  of  Bishops 
on  the  terms  on  which  he  himself  had  declared  he 
would  be  glad  to  enter  that  House,  namely,  That  he 
produce  evidence  of  his  valid  consecration,  and  that 
he  make  the  prescribed  declaration  of  conformity  to 
the  doctrine,  discipline,  and  worship  of  the  Prot- 
estant Episcopal  Church  in  the  United  States  of 
America.  Cummins  of  Illinois,  afterwards  Assistant 
Bishop  of  Kentucky,  summed  up  the  argument  of 
his  eloquent  address  by  saying  that  if  Wilmer  were 
not  recognized  Alabama  would  be  forced  into  a  state 
of  schism.  "Wilmer  is  there  as  Bishop,"  he  said. 
"Our  opinion  of  his  course  may  be  what  it  may  be, 
but  he  is  Bishop  of  Alabama.  He  was  consecrated 
according  to  Catholic  usage.  We  cannot  deny  him 
a  place  in  this  Church  if  Alabama  is  one  of  the  States 
of  this  Union."  Kerfoot  of  Connecticut,  made 
Bishop  of  Pittsburg  three  months  later,  afBrmed 
boldly  his  belief  that  while  Southern  men  had  acted 
wrongly  as  citizens,  "they  were  then  right  in  what 
they  did  as  Churchmen.  Whether  they  were  hasty 
or  not  is  a  minor  question.  They  did  as  I  would 
have  done  in  the  same  position.  They  did  what  I 
believe    nineteen-twentieths,    probably   ninety-nine- 

i6i 


RICHARD  HOOKER  WILMER 

hundreths,  of  Churchmen  would  have  done  in  the 
same  conditions :  They  went  to  work  as  quickly  as 
possible  to  put  the  Church  of  Jesus  Christ  in  work- 
ing order."  As  to  Bishop  Wilmer  himself  Dr.  Ker- 
foot  said:  "It  is  known  to  the  members  of  this 
Church,  far  and  wide,  how  noble  a  man  the  Bishop 
of  Alabama  is.  Unwise  he  most  certainly  is,  and  un- 
dutiful  I  think  him,  if  a  presbyter  may  so  speak  of  a 
Bishop;  but  he  is  one  of  the  noblest  men  that  the 
Episcopal  Church  has  ever  had  within  her  bounds. 
*  *  *  He  is  acting  under  a  mistake,  a  great  mistake, 
but  we  can  do  anything  in  the  world  but  wrong  for 
him."  Clarkson  of  Illinois,  made  Bishop  of  Ne- 
braska and  Dakota  just  one  month  later,  strove  for 
such  unanimity  of  action  as  was  shown  by  the  House 
of  Bishops.  Governor  Hunt,  Mr.  Ruggles,  and  Mr. 
Hamilton  Fish,  all  of  New  York,  and  Mr.  Chambers 
of  Maryland,  added  much  to  the  growing  conviction 
that  only  blind  partisanship  and  reckless  sectional- 
ism would  put  any  obstacle  in  the  way  of  the  free  and 
unanimous  return  of  the  absent  Southern  brethren. 
Opposition  was  finally  silenced,  and  the  action  of  the 
House  of  Bishops  was  ratified  by  an  all  but  unani- 
mous vote.  The  proposition  to  sing  the  Gloria  in 
Excelsis  in  thanksgiving  for  this  outcome  of  the 
matter  met  with  scant  favor.  As  Bishop  Wilmer 
had  not  many  weeks  before  objected  to  singing  a  Te 
Deum  with  the  Northern  Church  over  Southern  de- 
feat, even  so  his  critics  objected  to  singing  Gloria  in 
Excelsis  over  the  subordination  of  their  sense  of  jus- 
tice to  the  claims  of  Church  unity. 

Strangely  enough  it  was  more  than  two  months 

162 


BISHOP  AND  THE  GENERAL  CONVENTION 

before  this  action  of  the  General  Convention  was  offi- 
cially communicated  to  the  Bishop  of  Alabama.  In 
the  meantime  the  General  Council  of  the  Southern 
Dioceses  had  met  in  Augusta.  The  spirit  of  charity 
which  had  prevailed  in  the  General  Convention  com- 
mended itself  to  the  hearts  of  all  present  at  the  Gen- 
eral Council,  and  once  again  did  genial  warmth  loose 
the  folds  of  self-protection  which  unfriendly  North- 
ern blasts  would  but  have  drawn  tighter.  The  dis- 
solution of  the  General  Council  was  soon  accom- 
plished. Absolute  freedom  of  action  and  liberty  to 
withdraw  from  the  Conciliar  compact  was  accorded 
every  diocese. 

Only  one  obstacle  now  prevented  Alabama  from 
returning  promptly  to  legislative  union  with  the 
General  Church,  and  that  obstacle  was  the  military 
duress  described  in  the  last  chapter, — a  condition  of 
affairs  which  Bishop  Elliott  of  Georgia  felt  so  keenly 
that  he  declined  to  carry  Georgia  back  to  the  bosom 
of  the  national  Church  until  Alabama  was  free  to  go. 
But  when  the  military  interdict  had  been  withdrawn 
Bishop  Wilmer  summoned  a  special  Council  to  meet 
in  Montgomery,  on  January  17th,  1866.  He  sub- 
mitted his  whole  course  of  action  throughout  the 
many  eventful  months  to  the  Council,  and  received 
from  that  body  unstinted  "approbation,  admiration, 
and  thanks  for  the  firm,  dignified,  and  Christian  man- 
ner in  which  he  had  maintained  the  independence  and 
dignity  of  the  Church  of  this  diocese."  And  then, 
by  formal  resolution,  the  Church  in  Alabama  re- 
sumed its  old-time  relation  to  the  national  Church. 

Though  he  had  now  received  everything  that  he 

163 


RICHARD  HOOKER  WILMER 

had  contended  for,  from  both  State  and  Church,  the 
Bishop  was  not  minded  to  receive  meekly  the  un- 
warranted criticism  which  he  thought  the  Elouse  of 
Bishops  had  passed  upon  him  in  adopting  the  resohi- 
tion  of  regret  which  they  had  communicated  "in- 
formally" to  the  lower  House.  His  remarks  upon 
this  action,  made  to  his  diocesan  Council  in  1866, 
are  so  pungent,  and  so  illustrative  of  both  his  power 
of  analysis  and  his  tenacity  of  purpose,  that  they  de- 
serve to  be  reproduced  in  full : 

"It  has  been  a  matter  of  some  doubt  with  me,"  he 
said,  "as  to  the  light  in  which  this  unusual  coupling 
of  'regrets'  with  the  assent  to  the  jurisdiction  of  a 
bishop  should  be  regarded.  Inasmuch  as  the  pas- 
toral, in  regard  to  certain  positions  in  which  these 
regrets  were  expressed,  was  issued  by  me  whilst  I 
was  a  foreign  bishop  and  not  bound  in  fact,  as  by 
'declaration,'  to  conform  to  the  Constitution  and 
Canons  of  the  Church  in  the  United  States,  I  cannot 
consider  myself  as  properly  amenable  to  the  judg- 
ment of  said  Church;  yet,  notwithstanding  these  ob- 
vious considerations,  there  were  some,  both  in  and 
out  of  the  General  Convention,  who  regarded  this 
expression  of  regret  on  the  part  of  the  House  of 
Bishops  in  the  light  of  a  censure  upon  my  official 
conduct.  This  construction  cannot  properly  be 
given  to  their  action,  without  the  supposition  of  their 
having  so  far  departed  from  ecclesiastical  propriety 
as  to  pass  a  vote  of  censure  upon  the  official  action 
of  a  bishop  who  was  not  a  member  of  their  body,  and 
who  was  not,  therefore,  properly  amenable  to  their 
judgment  in  the  premises.     If  the  other  theory  be 

164 


BISHOP  AND  THE  GENERAL  CONVENTION 

taken,  that  he  was  properly  amenable,  then  the  sup- 
position involves  an  equally  serious  departure  from 
ecclesiastical  usage  in  passing  judgment  upon  one 
who  did  not  enjoy  the  privilege  of  a  full  hearing  be- 
fore sentence  was  passed.  It  would  then  reflect 
very  seriously  upon  the  action  of  a  body  so  venerable 
as  the  House  of  Bishops  to  suppose  that  the  expres- 
sion of  'fraternal  regrets'  is  to  be  viewed  in  the  light 
of  an  official  censure. 

"It  remains,  therefore,  to  suppose  that  the  House 
of  Bishops  felt  it  incumbent  upon  them  to  express  a 
general  regret  at  certain  positions  taken  by  myself 
lest  they  should  appear  to  sanction  certain  views  of 
the  prayer  for  those  in  authority,  which  I  had  seen 
fit  to  present.  Regarding  the  matter  in  this  light,  it 
would  seem  that,  in  restoring  old  relations,  the  ex- 
pression of  regrets  is  in  order,  and  it  may  not  be 
amiss  in  me  to  state  that,  after  a  careful  review  of 
the  various  pastorals  put  forth  in  the  last  unhappy 
years,  there  are  very  few  in  which  we,  who  look  at 
all  that  has  transpired  from  a  different  standpoint, 
have  not  found  occasion  for  regrets  to  which  we  can 
give  no  adequate  expression.  For  my  part,  I  can 
only  say,  and  I  say  it  merely  in  self-vindication,  that 
I  can  recall  no  word  that  I  have  written  to  you,  as 
your  bishop,  which  now,  in  this  moment  of  compara- 
tive quiet,  I  would  obliterate  from  the  record." 

Immediately  after  adjournment  of  the  special 
Council  Bishop  Wilmer  set  out  for  New  York, 
where,  on  January  31st,  1866,  in  Trinity  Chapel,  he 
made  the  prescribed  Declaration  of  Conformity,  and 
united  with  the  Presiding  Bishop  and  other  bishops 

165 


RICHARD  HOOKER  WILMER 

and  clergy  present  in  the  service  of  Holy  Com- 
munion. 

"Thus  happily,  as  I  think,"  wrote  the  Bishop  a 
few  months  after  all  had  been  settled,  "the  Church 
in  Alabama  has  been  able,  through  God's  grace  and 
kind  providence,  to  do  her  full  duty,  and  to  main- 
tain her  dignity  and  propriety;  and,  looking  alone 
to  the  weal  of  the  whole  body  of  Christ,  to  pursue  a 
steady  and  consistent  course.  Henceforth,  guided 
by  the  same  Spirit  which  has  thus  far  led  us  and  gov- 
erned all  our  deliberations,  let  us  more  than  ever 
strive  for  those  things  which  concern  the  glory  of 
God  and  the  good  of  His  Church. 

"We  are  able  to  show  the  world  that  we  are  not 
a  sect,  much  less  a  sectional  sect;  that  the  catholic 
spirit  of  the  Southern  dioceses  has  met  with  a  like 
response  in  the  catholic  spirit  of  the  Northern  dio- 
ceses— 'deep  calling  unto  deep' — giving  us  confi- 
dence that  henceforth,  as  ever  before,  no  political 
differences  shall  prevail  to  break  the  bonds  of  cath- 
olic unity  and  of  Heaven-born  charity." 


CHAPTER  IX 

GATHERING    UP    THE    FRAGMENTS 

Through  all  these  years  of  disturbance  the  Bishop 
had  been  sojourning  in  Greensboro,  a  charming  but 
quite  inaccessible  town  in  the  interior  of  the  State. 
Now  that  days  of  peace  had  come  and  it  was  pos- 
sible to  undertake  Church  work  along  normal  lines 
it  became  necessary  for  him  to  make  his  home  nearer 
some  center  of  his  work.  Mobile  commended  itself 
to  him,  both  for  its  local  importance  and  for  its  ac- 
cessibility to  other  portions  of  the  diocese. 

When  his  determination  to  remove  to  Mobile  was 
made  known  a  number  of  the  local  Churchmen 
bought  a  tract  of  half-cleared  land  on  Spring  Hill, 
seven  miles  from  the  city,  and  on  it  erected  a  small 
four-room  house,  to  which  they  gave  the  Bishop  a 
title  in  fee  simple,  not  as  diocesan  but  as  individual 
property.  The  elevation,  several  hundred  feet 
above  the  city,  rendered  it  possible  for  the  Bishop 
to  keep  his  family  in  Alabama,  and  at  home, 
throughout  the  year,  instead  of  having  to  take  them 
away  every  summer  for  fear  of  malaria.  The  neigh- 
borhood was  of  the  best,  but  the  immediate  sur- 
roundings of  scrub  pines  were  most  uninviting.  The 
ground  was  cleared  and  shrubbery  was  set  out.  The 
spaces  between  the  stilt-like  pillars  of  the  house  were 

167 


RICHARD  HOOKER  WILMER 

filled  with  lattice-work.  Paint  was  freely  used  on 
the  house,  whitewash  on  the  fences.  It  took  time, 
work,  and  the  personal  labors  of  the  Bishop  to  bring 
order  and  beauty  out  of  the  material  at  hand,  but  it 
was  a  homelike  place  in  a  few  months.  In  a  few 
years,  when  additional  rooms  were  built  it  was  the 
most  attractive  home  on  the  Hill. 

Access  to  this  home  was  not  as  easy  as  it  would 
have  been  in  Mobile.  Indeed,  it  meant  the  greater 
part  of  a  day  for  one  to  go  out.  Mule  cars  carried 
the  visitor  to  the  foot  of  the  hill,  where  oxen  added 
their  strength  and  toiled  patiently  up  the  tortuous 
ascent.  The  Bishop  was  often,  from  the  very  first, 
criticized  for  "hiding  himself  out  in  the  country 
where  it  was  hard  for  any  one  to  find  him."  He  had 
a  characteristic  reason  to  give:  "It  saves  me  a  great 
deal  of  time  that  would  otherwise  be  wasted.  If  any 
one  really  wishes  to  see  me  he  will  not  hesitate  to 
take  the  seven-mile  car-ride.  If  he  does  not  care  to 
take  the  ride  it  is  evident  that  his  business  was  not 
deemed  of  importance."  Whether  this  was  an  after- 
thought or  a  forethought  it  was  the  effect.  When 
visitors  stood  the  test  of  the  journey,  and  many  did 
stand  it,  the  welcome  was  so  cordial  and  the  hospital- 
ity so  unstinted  that  they  were  glad  of  the  distance 
which  compelled  them  to  accept  it  to  the  utmost. 
Many  a  time  did  three  or  four  unexpected  guests  sit 
around  the  large  round  table  in  the  dining-room.  In 
the  study,  adjoining  the  Bishop's  living-room,  scores 
of  candidates  for  the  ministry  after  painful  effort  re- 
ceived their  passport  to  ordination;  and,  when  ad- 
journment was  made  to  the  dining-table,  according 

1 68 


GATHERING  UP  THE  FRAGMENTS 

to  invariable  rule,  they  were  much  refreshed  by  the 
symbolic  veal  and  brotherly  consideration  that  were 
served  to  them  in  equal  parts.  So  attractive  were 
the  conditions  that  few  left  the  cordial  home  circle 
willinelv.  On  one  occasion  Dean  Hoffman  of  the 
General  Theological  Seminary  ran  out  from  the  city 
to  spend  a  few  hours  between  trains,  and  remained 
three  days. 

But  much  of  this  remained  for  the  future.  For 
the  present  the  affairs  of  the  Diocese  demanded  the 
most  assiduous  attention.  Civil  and  ecclesiastical 
peace  had  been  restored,  but  it  was  now  necessary 
for  both  the  Bishop  and  the  Diocese  to  take  stock 
and  to  use  the  resources  at  their  command  to  the 
best  advantage.  Alabama  had  been  the  least  trou- 
bled section  of  the  South,  and  many  clergymen  and 
laymen  had  sought  a  measure  of  peace  and  quiet 
within  its  borders.  At  the  close  of  the  war  most  of 
these  strangers  went  home.  The  departure  of  the 
clergy  left  a  number  of  parishes  vacant,  and  the  de- 
parture of  the  laity  impaired  the  finances  of  other 
parishes.  In  the  single  Conciliar  year  of  1865-6  the 
Bishop  gave  letters  dismissory  to  more  than  one- 
third  of  his  clergy,  among  them  the  future  Bishop 
of  Georgia,  John  W.  Beckwith.  Henry  Sansom,  A. 
Gordon  Bakewell,  and  George  F.  Cushman. 

If  the  clergymen  were  scarce  money  to  offer  those 
that  remained  was  scarcer.  Even  the  Bishop  re- 
ceived no  stipulated  sum.  He  and  most  of  his  clergy 
lived  on  voluntary  offerings,  and  he  shared  to  the 
last  cent  with  his  youngest  deacon.  ''Were  I  to  tell 
you  what  God  has  enabled  me  to  accomplish  with 

169 


RICHARD  HOOKER  WILMER 

limited  means  during  the  last  eighteen  months,"  he 
wrote  John  Stewart,  on  January  5th,  1867,  "yo^ 
would  say,  'Verily,  the  Lord  hath  helped  you.'  *  *  * 
1  have  fed  and  clothed  forty  persons  during  the  last 
two  years — orphans,  widows,  and  such  like.  How 
we  lived  during  the  terrible  transition,  how  we  were 
enabled  to  bear  up,  God  only  knows." 

While  thus  living  from  day  to  day  as  the  very 
ravens  which  God  feeds,  the  Bishop,  not  for  his  own 
sake  but  for  the  sake  of  the  church,  was  pleading  for 
systematic  giving.  By  his  own  unremitting  exertions 
in  soliciting  contributions,  and  by  the  kind  co-opera- 
tion of  the  Domestic  Missionary  Society  of  the  Gen- 
eral Church,  he  succeeded  in  the  summer  of  1866  in 
moving  several  clergymen  into  the  Diocese;  but  for 
five  months  he  could  not  get  the  congregations  to 
put  any  money  into  the  diocesan  missionary  treasury 
to  pay  these  men.  For  eighteen  months  the  amount 
contributed  averaged  only  half  a  cent  a  week  for 
each  of  the  two  thousand  communicants  in  the  Dio- 
cese. Ten  cents  a  w^eek  would  have  given  over 
ten  thousand  dollars  a  year.  The  embarrassment  to 
which  the  Bishop  was  put  in  attempting  to  do  the 
work  to  w'hich  he  had  been  called  was,  he  said,  a  re- 
flection upon  the  zeal  and  even  the  honor  of  the 
Church.  "It  is  a  reproach  to  the  head  of  the  house 
when  there  is  no  meat  in  the  Lord's  house.  It  sets 
the  members  of  the  house  a-begging.  No  govern- 
ment could  retain  honor  if  its  of^cials  were  com- 
pelled to  solicit  alms  on  the  streets,  or  to  resort  to 
fairs  and  tableaux  for  the  purpose  of  raising  the 
means    of    subsistence.     It  is  in  this  way  that  the 

170 


GATHERING  UP  THE  FRAGMENTS 

phrase,  'begging  for  the  Church,'  has  acquired  such 
universal  and  shameful  currency  amongst  us.  It  is 
full  time  that  there  were  an  end  of  all  such  phrase- 
ology. We  must  understand  that  the  Church  of  God 
is  a  government — a  Kingdom — that  her  members 
are  not  her  benefactors,  but  her  children;  that  all 
that  they  have  is  God's  and  that  of  His  own  do  they 
give  Him." 

It  was  when  afifairs  were  at  this  critical  period  that 
Northern  dioceses  and  ecclesiastics  sought  to  em- 
phasize and  strengthen  the  restored  unity  of  the 
Church  by  proffering  little  financial  courtesies  to 
Southern  bishops  and  dioceses.  The  wealthy 
Churchmen  of  the  East  helped  the  crippled  mission- 
ary work  of  the  South  to  its  feet,  with  liberality  un- 
stinted until  the  misunderstandings  of  carpet-bag 
and  reconstruction  days  brought  greater  alienation 
of  spirit  than  had  the  war  itself.  The  Domestic  and 
Foreign  Missionary  Society  sent  Bishop  Wilmer  a 
check  for  three  thousand  dollars  to  help  the  work 
of  a  single  year,  and  not  long  afterwards  a  layman 
of  Louisville  gave  him  one  thousand  dollars  more. 
With  this  help  the  Bishop  put  two  general  mission- 
aries in  the  field.  Their  work  yielded  such  abundant 
fruit  even  from  the  beginning  that  in  the  following 
year  he  was  about  to  add  another  worker,  when, 
without  warning,  the  Domestic  and  Foreign  Mis- 
sionary Society  cut  of¥  twelve  hundred  dollars  from 
the  appropriation  for  Alabama  in  order  to  give  it  to 
Foreign  Missions.  The  Diocese  attempted  in  part 
to  make  up  the  deficiency,  but  lack  of  organization 
rendered  the  attempt  largely  abortive.     The  Bishop 

171 


RICHARD  HOOKER  WILMER 

was  affectionately  encouraged  to  "go  forward"  in 
the  propagation  of  the  Church,  but  he  was  always 
left  short  of  funds  for  the  few  outposts  that  he 
sought  to  maintain.  There  were  no  appointed  ad- 
visers as  to  the  disposition  of  either  missionaries  or 
funds.  This  trust  showed  perfect  confidence  in  the 
Bishop.  It  worked  well  in  the  outgo,  because  it  fixed 
on  one  man  the  whole  responsibility  for  wise  ex- 
penditure.    But  it  worked  ill  in  the  income. 

The  Bishop  worked  along,  however,  as  best  he 
could,  supplementing  the  labors  of  his  missionaries 
with  his  own  thorough  visitations.  He  was  wel- 
comed twice  wherever  he  went — once  for  his  tried 
patriotism,  and  once  for  his  unique  personality.  It 
may  well  be  imagined  that  the  plenty  and  prosperity 
of  the  opening  days  of  the  war  were  not  now  in  evi- 
dence. One  striking  incident  of  the  Episcopal 
visitations  of  those  days  lingered  in  the  Bishop's 
memory  till  death. 

He  was  making  a  visitation  to  one  of  his  most  re- 
mote congregations.  As  he  drove  up  to  the  home 
of  his  hostess,  he  beheld  a  typical  sight.  In  the 
porch  was  sitting  the  hostess'  father,  an  aged  man, 
the  very  image  of  hopelessness,  the  personification 
of  despair.  His  son  had  perished  in  battle;  his 
property  had  been  swept  away;  and  silent  desolation 
marked  his  last  years.  The  Bishop  drew  near  and 
took  his  seat  beside  him,  and  tried  to  speak  words 
of  comfort.  He  made  no  response  by  word  or  look, 
but  merely  shook  his  head  in  utter  wretchedness. 
Feeling  at  last  that  ordinary  words  were  without 
effect,  the  Bishop  asked : 

172 


GATHERING  UP  THE  FRAGMENTS 

"What  is  that  you  have  in  your  hand?" 

"It  is  a  pruning  knife,"  he  repHed. 

"What  are  you  going  to  do  with  it?" 

"My  daughter  wants  me  to  prune  her  grape  vines. 
They  are  growing  wild." 

"What!"  exclaimed  the  Bishop.  "Are  you  going 
to  cut  off  these  boughs,  which  look  so  beautiful?" 

"Oh,  yes,"  was  the  response.  "I  cut  them  very 
close,  and  for  this  reason  your  heart  bleeds." 

"Don't  they  bleed?  If  those  vines  had  a  voice 
and  should  ask  you  wdiy  you  despoil  them  of  all 
their  beauty,  what  would  you  say?" 

"I  would  tell  them  that  I  planted  them  for  fruit, 
and  not  for  leaves  only.  If  you  want  good  fruit  you 
have  to  cut  very  close  lest  the  strength  of  the  vine 
should  all  run  to  leaves." 

"Now,  my  friend,"  said  the  Bishop,  leaning  for- 
ward, "Don't  you  see  how  it  is  with  you?  All  the 
years  of  your  long  life  you  have  run  to  nothing  but 
leaves.  In  your  childhood  you  were  grafted  upon 
the  vine.  Fourscore  years  grafted,  and  no  fruit ! 
Now,  the  Father,  who  is  the  Husbandman,  doesn't 
wish  to  see  you  coming  to  the  Harvest  bearing  noth- 
ing but  leaves.  Therefore  he  has  pruned  you  very 
close  and  for  this  reason  your  heart  bleeds." 

The  expression  of  the  eye  changed  in  a  flash,  but 
otherwise  there  seemed  to  be  no  effect  from  the  con- 
versation. Next  year  the  Bishop  visited  the  same 
congregation,  and  called  for  the  candidates  for  Con- 
firmation to  come  forward.  Only  the  old  man  came 
up.  As  he  knelt  he  laid  his  head  upon  the  chancel 
rail.     When  the  hands  of  the   Bishop  were  raised 


RICHARD  HOOKER  WILMER 

from  his  head  he  gently  took  one  of  them  in  his  own, 
and  whispered  softly, 

"A  little  fruit,  I  hope,  Bishop." 

Not  only  the  laws  of  the  vegetable  kingdom,  but 
also  those  of  the  political  served  him  as  vehicle  for 
conveying  spiritual  truth.  He  was  travelling  for 
several  hours  with  one  who  had  occupied  with  dis- 
tmction  the  highest  judicial  positions  under  first  the 
Federal  Government  and  then  the  Confederate.  This 
man  belonged,  consequently,  to  that  class  which, 
under  the  Proclamation  of  Amnesty,  was  required  to 
obtain  an  individual  pardon  before  citizenship  could 
be  restored  and  professional  practice  resumed.  He 
had  been  brought,  by  the  trials  and  vicissitudes  of 
the  recent  perilous  times,  to  ponder  the  deep  things 
of  life.  In  the  enforced  quietude  of  the  prison  he 
had  studied  the  Prayer  Book  and  the  "Of^ce  for  the 
Visitation  of  Prisoners" — which  he,  though  a  great 
reader,  had  then  seen  for  the  first  time, — and  he  had 
been  brought  to  the  knowledge  of  the  truth  as  it  is 
in  Christ  Jesus. 

Finding  that  his  friend  was  fixed  in  his  resolve  to 
enter  upon  the  Christian  life,  the  Bishop  said, 

"Judge,  of  course  you  have  been  baptized?" 

"Well,  no,"  the  judge  answered;  "I  am  a  man  not 
much  given  to  forms;  I  go  pretty  much  for  the  sub- 
stance of  things." 

"And  you  a  lawyer.  Judge?  Of  all  men  who 
should  appreciate  the  power  and  necessity  of  forms, 
lawyers  should  be  the  foremost.  Tell  me.  Judge, 
whe.e  have  you  been  lately?"  The  Bishop  asked 
this,  knowing  the  occasion  of  the  present  journey. 

174 


GATHERING  UP  THE  FRAGMENTS 

"I  am  just  from  Washington,"  he  said. 

"Why  did  you  go  to  Washington?"  inquired  the 
Bishop. 

*T  went  to  obtain  my  pardon  from  the  President. 
You  know  that,  under  his  proclamation,  one  who 
has  occupied  my  position  is  required  to  obtain  par- 
don in  this  way." 

"That  is  all  right.  Judge,"  the  Bishop  said.  "One 
must  have  citizenship  and  be  at  liberty  to  work  in  his 
calling.  But  how  about  that  other  proclamation 
from  the  Lord  of  the  Kingdom  ?  Is  it  less  clear  and 
authoritative  than  that  which  you  have  just  recog- 
nized— 'Except  a  man  be  born  of  water  and  of  the 
Spirit,  he  cannot  enter  into  the  Kingdom  of  God'?" 

Nothing  further  was  needed.  The  Judge  showed 
his  appreciation  of  the  point.  In  the  course  of  a  few 
weeks  he  was  baptized  and  confirmed.  For  many 
years  he  represented  his  Diocese  in  the  General  Con- 
vention. 

It  was  now  a  little  easier,  perhaps,  to  get  from 
place  to  place  than  in  the  last  days  of  Bishop  Cobbs, 
but  there  were  more  places  to  go  to  and  the  fatigue 
involved  was  greater  in  the  sum  total.  Butler  and 
Pushmataha  required  a  combination  of  steamboat 
and  spring  wagon.  Gainesville  and  Forkland  in- 
volved buckboards  and  fords,  and  occasionally  a 
spilling  into  a  treacherous  creek.  Bon  Secour  was 
a  trip  of  several  days  down  Mobile  Bay  and  back, 
with  an  unknown  number  of  days  on  the  way  going 
or  coming  or  at  the  destination,  the  inevitable  sail- 
boat being  at  the  mercy  of  wind  and  tide,  and  the 
hapless  passenger  camping  almost  continuously  on 

175 


RICHARD  HOOKER  WILMER 

the  deck.  The  Bishop  would  often  come  back  from 
Bon  Secoiir  with  his  eyes  so  inflamed  by  the  glare 
from  water  and  from  sand  that  he  could  scarcely  use 
them  for  days.  The  nearest  approach  to  ice  appli- 
cation that  he  could  find  down  the  Bay  was  cold 
oysters,  which  he  applied  to  relieve  the  inflamma- 
tion. 

On  some  of  the  newer  railroads  then  beginning  to 
stretch  out  from  the  larger  towns  the  discomfort  and 
■  he  danger  were  quite  as  great  as  those  of  older 
methods  of  travel.  On  one  of  these  roads,  near 
Selma.  the  grading  was  new,  the  ties  w'ere  green, 
and  the  rails  were  rough.  A  fleet  footman  could 
have  caught  up  with  the  train.  But  it  ran  off  the 
track.  The  coach  occupied  by  the  Bishop  upset  and 
tumbled  down  the  steep  embankment.  The  Bishop 
broke  a  window  of  the  car  and  crawled  out  all  cov- 
ered with  dust.  As  he  did  so,  one  of  his  fellow- 
passengers,  after  spitting  a  little  dust  out  of  his 
mouth,  exclaimed,  "I  tell  you  we  came  pretty  nigh 
going  to  hell  that  time,  didn't  we?"  "Speak  for 
yourself,  sir,"  the  Bishop  replied,  "I  didn't  get  my 
ticket  to  that  place." 

Though  the  anxieties  of  diocesan  administration 
under  such  circumstances  were  abnormally  great, 
and  though  his  susceptibility  to  atmospheric  condi- 
tions led  him  to  write  thus  early,  "The  climate  be- 
gins to  tell  upon  me."  he  was  neither  too  absorbed 
nor  too  ill  to  accept  outside  responsibilities  in  the 
pulpit  and  to  write  strong  and  eloquent  sermons. 
The  death  of  Bishop  Elliott  in  December,  1866,  was 
a  great  grief  to  him,  and  he  accepted  the  two  invita- 

176 


GATHERING  UP  THE  FRAGMENTS 

tions  that  came  to  him  soon,  to  preach  the  memorial 
sermon  and  to  perform  Episcopal  duties  for  the 
bereaved  Diocese  until  another  Bishop  should  be 
consecrated. 

The  Elliott  Memorial  Sermon  was  preached  on 
January  27th,  1867,  in  Christ  Church,  Savannah,  in 
the  morning,  and  by  special  request  was  repeated 
the  next  day  in  St.  John's  Church,  and  two  weeks 
later  in  Christ  Church,  Mobile.  It  was  the  most 
noteworthy  sermon  that  Bishop  Wilmer  had  ever, 
up  to  this  time,  delivered.  It  dealt  fearlessly  and 
plainly,  and  yet  in  good  spirit,  with  the  things  which 
had  been  moving  men's  hearts.  It  was  a  son's 
panegyric  upon  his  father,  and  being  this  it  revealed 
the  son's  nature  not  less  than  the  father's.  Disclaim- 
ing any  assertion  of  perfection  in  Bishop  Elliott  he 
spoke  these  burning  words : 

"Bishops  are  fashioned  out  of  men.  Earthen  ves- 
sels are  they,  to  whom  a  heavenly  treasure  is  en- 
trusted. More  than  human  would  the  Southern 
bishops  have  been,  if  under  that  tremendous  pres- 
sure of  feeling,  the  recollection  of  which,  even  now 
at  times,  causes  a  tightening  of  the  chest,  their 
thoughts  had  not  sometimes  overflowed  in  strong 
and  resistless  expression.  The  good  Bishop  was  not 
more  than  human.  Indeed,  it  was  his  humanness 
that  constituted  his  peculiar  charm,  and  attracted  to 
him  all  our  hearts. 

"There  is  something  less  than  human,  which  will 
never  offend  after  this  manner.  There  is  a  cold- 
blooded indifference,  which  cannot  be  roused  to  holy 
indignation,  and  it  may  pass  for  great  moderation. 

177 


RICHARD  HOOKER  WH.MER 

There  is  a  time-serving  timidity  whch  shrinks  from 
the  consequences  of  a  deed  of  daring,  and  it  may  pass 
for  great  prudence.  There  is  a  calculating  policy 
which  gauges  all  questions  by  the  standard  of  profit 
and  loss,  and  it  will  pass  for  great  sagacity.  Men  of 
this  stamp  can  go  through  the  fire  unharmed,  be- 
cause there  is  no  material  in  them  to  be  kindled. 
These  are  the  less  than  human. 

"Bishop  Elliott  was  not  a  man  of  timid  and  calcu- 
lating nature.  He  had  been  reared  in  the  school  of 
honor,  whose  teachings,  when  sublimated  by  the 
grace  of  God,  impel  men  to  dare  all  consequences 
in  the  assertion  and  maintenance  of  the  right.  He 
had  not  been  his  father's  son,  he  had  been  recreant 
to  his  whole  race,  if,  in  a  question  of  sentiment  and 
principle,  he  had  paused  to  calculate  the  conse- 
quences by  any  standard  of  earthly  profit. 

"When  men  such  as  these  fall  into  error,  it  is  after 
their  own  manner,  and  in  the  line  of  their  own  na- 
ture. They  are  incapable  of  meanness,  cowardice, 
and  treachery;  but  when  their  indignation  is  aroused, 
they  are  prone  to  overflow  the  bounds  of  moderation. 
Errors  of  this  kind  are  wont  to  be  found  in  connec- 
tion with  generous  and  impassioned  temperaments. 
These  are  the  infirmities  which  God  knoweth,  and, 
as  a  Father,  pitieth;  and,  blessed  be  His  Holy  Name, 
when  repented  of,  are.  with  sins  of  a  deeper  dye, 
washed  away  in  the  most  precious  blood  of  Christ, 
and  remembered  no  more  forever." 

In  the  autumn  of  1867  the  first  Lambeth  Confer- 
ence, composed  of  bishops  of  the  Anglican  Com- 
munion the  world  over,  met  in  London  at  the  invi- 

178 


GATHERING  UP  THE  FRAGMENTS 

tation  of  the  Archbishop  of  Canterbury.  The  active 
personal  interest  of  Mr.  Henry  A.  Schroeder  of  Mo- 
bile, and  of  Mr.  Benjamin  Micou  of  Tallassee,  en- 
abled Bishop  Wilmer  to  attend  this  Conference  and 
to  spend  several  months  in  England.  His  reputa- 
tion had  gone  before  him  and  he  found  many  friends 
among  the  clergy  and  laity.  English  sympathy  had 
been  largely  with  the  Confederacy  and  he  was  known 
as  the  only  Confederate  Bishop.  His  contest 
with  the  military  authorities  was  well  known 
and  his  attitude  fully  approved  of  by  English 
Churchmen.  The  entire  visit  occupied  a  little  more 
than  four  months,  and  for  a  portion  of  this  time  the 
Bishop  was  a  guest  of  Lady  Monckton.  He  preached 
in  some  of  the  largest  churches  in  England,  and 
made  addresses  in  behalf  of  the  venerable  Society 
for  the  Propagation  of  the  Gospel  in  St.  Michael's 
Church,  Bristol,  and  St.  Paul's  Church,  Clifton,  and 
wherever  he  was  heard  and  known  his  reputation 
was  increased.  Among  those  who  met  him  was  Mr. 
Davidson,  then  a  promising  young  clergyman,  now 
the  Archbishop  of  Canterbury,  who  stayed  in  the 
same  house  with  him  for  a  time;  and  thirty-eight 
years  afterwards  when  the  Archbishop  came  to 
America,  he  still  remembered  him  with  enthusiasm. 

One  of  the  most  interesting  incidents  of  his  visit 
because  it  illustrated  the  power  he  had  over  men  oc- 
curred at  Wolverhampton.  A  strike  of  the  shoe- 
makers had  occurred,  and  a  large  meeting  was  ar- 
ranged in  the  hope  of  adjusting  the  differences  be- 
tween the  employers  and  the  strikers.  Several  nota- 
ble people  were  invited    to    address    the    strikers, 

179 


RICHARD  HOOKER  WILMER 

among  them  the  American  Bishop,  who,  it  was  sup- 
posed, knew  the  minds  of  workingmen  as  he  came 
from  a  workingman's  country,  and  to  whom  EngHsh 
workingmen  would  be  sure  to  Hsten.  Speech  after 
speech  was  made  to  the  strikers,  but  they  remained 
sullen  and  intractable.  When  Wilmer's  turn  came 
he  began  by  telling  them  the  story  of  "Uncle 
Manuel,"  the  old  shoemaker  on  a  plantation  in  Vir- 
ginia, who  was  noted  for  his  careful  workmanship, 
as  well  as  for  his  honesty  and  patience.  \\'ilmer  de- 
scribed the  whole  process  of  shoemaking,  with  which 
the  strikers  were  surprised  to  find  he  was  perfectly 
familiar,  and  skillfully  carried  them  along  with  him 
into  a  rational  discussion  of  the  mutual  relations 
which  ought  to  exist  between  employers  and  em- 
ployed. The  meeting  broke  up  with  the  honors  for 
Wilmer,  and  a  few  days  afterwards  the  strikers  re- 
turned to  work,  impelled  to  do  so  by  the  American 
bishop's  arguments. 

"The  most  beautiful  service  I  attended  in  the 
mother  country,"  he  wrote,  "was  a  Harvest  Home 
celebration  at  Clifton-on-the-Downs.  All  the  first 
fruits  of  the  earth  were  brought  into  the  sanctuary, 
and  blessed  with  praise  and  offering.  Can  we  doubt 
that  such  services  are  acceptable  to  Him  who  crowns 
the  year  with  His  goodness?  The  heart  filled  with 
gratitude  to  God,  and  expressing  itself  outwardly  in 
offerings  to  His  poor — does  it  not  approach  the  Sac- 
ramental and  Eucharistic  worship?  I  cannot  com- 
prehend the  views  of  some — happily  not  among  our- 
selves— who  speak  of  such  service  in  terms  of 
ribaldry  and  scorn;  who  can  see  nothing  more  in 

1 80 


GATHERING  UP  THE  FRAGMENTS 

such  a  service  than  exhibitions  of  flowers  and  fruits." 

Among  the  honors  paid  him  on  this  visit  was  the 
conferring  of  the  degree  of  Doctor  of  Laws  by  the 
University  of  Cambridge.  The  hood  was  placed 
upon  him  in  due  and  ancient  form,  but  he  never  wore 
it  after  he  came  back  home.  The  degree  itself  he 
prized  highly. 

As  well-bred  gentlemen  the  English  hosts  of  the 
American  Bishops  often  brought  into  the  conversa- 
tion complimentary  references  to  the  men  and  the 
incidents  especially  prominent  in  American  history, 
but  it  happened  to  them  once  or  twice  that  their  re- 
marks were  not  well  placed.  The  heroism  of  the 
Pilgrim  Fathers  was,  of  course,  a  favorite  theme — 
and  a  safe  one.  But  it  was  made  to  do  service  once 
too  often.  After  hearing  about  that  incident  more 
times  than  he  was  willing  to  count  up.  Bishop  Wil- 
mer  finally  broke  in  on  the  last  offender  with  the  im- 
patient remark : 

"I  am  so  tired  of  hearing  about  the  landing  of  the 
Pilgrim  Fathers  on  Plymouth  Rock  that  I  heartily 
wish  Plymouth  Rock  had  landed  on  the  Pilgrim 
Fathers." 

While  the  guest  of  the  Bishop  of  London  he  was 
compelled  to  hear  a  great  deal  about  "the  late  war," 
slavery,  and  the  like,  and  for  the  sake  of  peace  with 
the  Northern  bishops  who  were  his  fellow-guests  he 
often  kept  silence,  and  restrained  his  lips  even  from 
what  he  thought  good  words.  On  one  occasion, 
however,  he  exploded.     The  occasion  was  this: 

After  a  particularly  trying  conversation,  which  the 
host  had  vainly  sought  to  turn.  Bishop  Tait  called 

i8i 


RICHARD  HOOKER  WILMER 

attention  to  an  excellent  portrait  of  George  Wash- 
ington, and  said  to  Bishop  Wilmer, 

"Like  all  true  sons  of  Virginia  you  are  an  admirer 
of  George  \\'ashington?" 

"Well,  yes.  I  suppose  so,  to  some  extent,"  re- 
sponded the  Bishop.  "We  think  he  was  a  well- 
meaning  old  gentleman." 

The  slighting  tone  in  which  he  spoke  aroused  the 
general  attention  of  the  other  bishops,  who  ceased 
their  conversation,  and  turned  to  listen  to  what  he 
would  say  next.  This  was  just  what  Bishop  Wilmer 
wanted. 

"What  do  you  mean  by  speaking  of  the  immortal 
Washington  in  that  way?"  asked  Bishop  Tait.  "I 
thought  that  you  held  Washington  in  reverence  as 
a  patriot  and  soldier." 

"He  was  well-meaning  enough,"  iterated  Bishop 
Wilmer,  "but  he  did  Virginia  more  harm  than  any 
other  man  that  ever  lived." 

"Why,  how  is  that?"  asked  the  host  with  curiosity. 

"Because  he  won  the  fight  against  England,"  re- 
sponded Bishop  Wilmer.  "If  it  had  not  been  for 
George  Washington  we  would  to-day  be  the  loyal 
subjects  of  a  most  gracious,  virtuous,  and  Christian 
queen.  But  as  it  is  we  are  the  most  unwilling  sub- 
jects of  a  drunken  Tennessee  tailor." 

The  anecdote  illustrates  a  certain  ferociousness  of 
wit  which  Bishop  Wilmer  was  unable  at  times  to  re- 
strain. On  this  occasion  he  was  smarting  under 
certain  chilly  behavior  towards  himself  on  the  part  of 
some  of  the  Bishop  of  London's  Northern  guests, 
and  his  recent  encounter  with  "the  drunken  Ten- 

182 


GATHERING  UP  THE  FRAGMENTS 

nessee  tailor"  was  fresh  in  his  memory.  The  broad- 
side which  he  let  loose  was  not,  it  is  perhaps  unneces- 
sary to  say,  intended  to  proclaim  a  disparaging  opin- 
ion of  George  Washington,  for  whose  character  and 
services  he,  of  course,  entertained  an  abiding  admira- 
tion, but  simply  to  demohsh  the  Northern  bishops. 
It  had  that  effect,  and  Wilmer,  in  relating  the  inci- 
dent afterwards,  said  they  "disappeared  from  the 
room  so  fast  that  their  coat  tails  stood  out  straight." 

In  somewhat  the  same  spirit  he  treated  a  certain 
prominent  Churchman  in  London,  who  had  become 
an  intemperate  advocate  of  what  he  called  "temper- 
ance." Wilmer  insisted  that  there  should  be  mod- 
eration in  all  things,  but  that  the  position  held  by 
fanatical  temperance  advocates  was  illogical  and  im- 
practicable. After  dining  with  this  gentleman  Wil- 
mer was  requested  to  look  at  the  picture  of  the  stom- 
ach of  a  drunkard.  The  Bishop  looked  at  it  with 
interest  and  then  asked  his  host  if  he  did  not  have 
a  picture  of  the  stomach  of  a  water  drinker.  His 
host  said  he  had  not.  "That  is  too  bad,"  said  Wil- 
mer, "for  I  feel  sure  you  would  find  it  full  of  tad- 
poles!" 

The  Bishop  travelled  in  company  with  his  cousin, 
Joseph  Pere  Bell  Wilmer,  Bishop  of  Louisiana,  a 
saintly  man,  whom  he  revered.  This  companion- 
ship was  to  him  the  most  delightful  feature  of  the  en- 
tire journey.  "Dick"  and  "Joe,"  as  they  called  each 
other,  were  inseparable  from  start  to  finish,  and 
the  wit  of  the  former  and  the  saintly  conversa- 
tion of  the  latter  were  ideal  foils  each  of  the  other. 
The  cousins  stood  each  other  in  good  stead,  Ala- 

183 


RICHARD  HOOKER  WILMER 

bama  bearing  the  brunt  when  Louisiana,  in  a  fit  of 
absent-mindedness,  burnt  his  letter  of  credit,  and 
Louisiana  accelerating  the  passage  of  the  two 
through  the  custom-house  by  his  noble  face,  his  dis- 
tinguished manners  and  his  courteous  bearing.  On 
the  return  trip  they  encountered  a  severe  storm, 
which  was  at  its  height  at  midnight.  Going  to  their 
state-room  about  this  time,  the  Bishop  of  Alabama 
found  the  Bishop  of  Louisiana  lying  down,  and  read- 
ing the  service  for  the  Burial  of  the  Dead,  while  the 
storm  raged  and  the  ship  pitched.  He  made  no 
comment  at  the  time,  but  next  day  he  remarked  to 
his  cousin: 

"Joe,  you  are  very  nearly  a  perfect  Churchman. 
You  have  been  baptized,  and  catechized,  and  con- 
firmed, and  ordamed,  and  consecrated,  and  buried. 
Only  one  thing  more  is  needed:  Be  churched,  and 
you  will  be  perfected!" 

Of  the  disputes  in  this  first  Lambeth  Conference 
over  the  attempt  made  by  many  bishops,  led  by  John 
Henry  Hopkins  of  Vermont,  to  place  on  record  a 
formal  condemnation  of  Bishop  Colenso  of  Natal  for 
heretical  views  Bishop  Wilmer  never  wrote  one 
word.  He  did,  however,  express  his  disappointment 
that  the  Conference  did  not  in  something  more  than 
general  and  indefinite  phraseology  afiirm  its  wish  to 
bring  about  Christian  Unity  by  offering  to  do  away 
with  any  removable  obstacle  to  Christian  unity  that 
might  be  found  in  the  Anglican  Communion.  "It 
was  solely  with  a  view  of  giving  my  voice  in  favor  of 
such  resolution  that  I  was  moved  to  attend  the  Con- 
ference," he  said  to  his  diocesan  Council,  "and  I  shall 

184 


GATHERING  UP  THE  FRAGMENTS 

ever  remember  with  pleasure  that  the  only  word 
which  I  uttered  in  that  assembly  was  in  favor  of  such 
a  formal  declaration  as  I  have  referred  to." 

It  was  Bishop  Wilmer's  rare  privilege  this  year 
and  the  year  after  to  receive  as  applicants  for  Holy 
Orders  two  young  men  who  subsequently  became 
bishops,  respectively,  of  Western  Texas  and  Michi- 
gan— R.  W.  B.  Elliott  and  Samuel  Smith  Harris. 
The  former  was  a  son  of  Bishop  Stephen  Elliott,  and 
was  confirmed  by  Bishop  Wilmer  in  Savannah  the 
day  he  preached  the  Memorial  Sermon.  Young  El- 
liott was  then  twenty-seven  years  old,  and  his  letter 
to  Bishop  Wilmer,  in  which  he  made  known  to  the 
Bishop  his  desire  to  study  for  Orders,  shows  a  rare 
combination  of  zeal  and  humility.  'T  am  not  worthy, 
but  here  am  I;  send  me,"  is  the  tone  of  the  whole 
epistle.  He  did  not  ask  for  immediate  enrollment 
as  a  postulant.  'T  am  too  young  and  inexperienced 
a  character  to  be  certain  of  my  strength,"  he  said  to 
Bishop  Wilmer;  "I  wish  time  to  analyze  my  motives 
in  taking  the  step.  I  do  not  wish  hurriedly  to  com- 
mit myself  to  it.  At  the  same  time  I  should  like  to 
read  with  a  view  to  this  end,  so  that  should  I  after  a 
while  be  deemed  worthy  to  labour  in  the  Great  Har- 
vest, where  the  laborers  are  so  few,  the  present  time 
shall  not  have  been  wasted."  He  was  made  deacon 
in  the  next  year,  and  in  1874  Bishop  Wilmer  assisted 
at  his  consecration  as  Bishop. 

The  other  young  man  approached  the  Bishop 
about  the  time  Elliott  was  made  deacon.  S.  S.  Har- 
ris had  been  a  successful  lawyer  for  ten  years  when, 
in  1868,  he  made  a  visit  to  Mobile  to  see  the  Bishop. 

185 


RICHARD  HOOKER  WILMER 

Ihe  two  men  had  never  met.     The  Bishop  happened 
to  be  on  the  car  going  home,  and  he  afterwards  re- 
lated that  he  was  so  impressed  with  the  bearing  and 
facial  expression  of  the  unknown  young  man  that 
he  thought  within  himself,  "Ah,  that  is  the  sort  of 
man  we  want  for  the  Lord's  work."     Great  was  his 
thankfulness  when,  later  in  the  day,  this  same  desira- 
ble person  appeared  at  Spring  Hill  and  made  known 
his  wish  to  enter  the  Ministry.     He  was  made  dea- 
con in  February,  1869,  and  priest  on  June  30th,  of 
the  same  year.     Immediately  after  his  ordination  as 
priest  he  accepted  a  call     to    Columbus,    Georgia, 
thence  went  to  Trinity  Church,  New  Orleans,  and 
after  declining  the  bishopric  of  Ouincy  in  1878  was, 
on  September   17th,    1879,   consecrated    Bishop    of 
Michigan,  Bishop  Wilmer  presiding.     Bishop  Har- 
ris was  the  first  native  Alabamian  ever  made  Bishop. 
In   1867  the   Bishop  had    removed    the    Church 
Home  for  Orphans  from  Tuskaloosa  to  Mobile  in 
order  to  have  it  under  his  immediate  management, 
and,  incidentally,  to  keep  it  prominently  before  the 
eyes  of  more  persons  as  a  worthy  object  of  their 
benefactions.     The  Home  was  his  own  child;  it  con- 
tinued to  the  end  to  be  his  personal  responsibility; 
and  at  no  time  was  it  under  the  control  of  any  com- 
mittee from  the  Council.     The  property  in  Tuska- 
loosa, which  had  cost  him   thirty  thousand  dollars 
in  Confederate  money,  was  sold  for  two  thousand 
dollars  in  gold.     When  all  debts  were  paid  fifteen 
hundred  dollars  remained.     With  this  the  orphans 
were  brought  down  to  Mobile  and  settled  in  a  two- 
room  house  given  by  St.  John's  parish.      Of    the 

186 


GATHERING  UP  THE  FRAGMENTS 

three  deaconesses  who  had  been  set  apart  in  Tiiska- 
loosa  on  December  20th,  1864,  two  had  for  the  last 
two  years  been  conducting  a  girls'  school  at  Spring 
Hill,  hoping  thus  to  make  something  clear  for  the 
support  of  the  orphans,  and  the  orphans  had  been  in 
the  immediate  care  of  the  other  deaconess  and  the 
probationers;  but  the  school,  Bishop  Wilmer's  first 
and  last  venture  in  the  educational  line,  was  now 
rented  out,  and  the  work  of  the  Sisterhood  was 
henceforth  concentrated  on  the  Home. 

From  the  beginning  the  Home  was  managed  on 
the  broadest  humanitarian  lines  and  the  safest  finan- 
cial. Creed,  denomination,  and  nationality  were 
ignored  as  criteria  of  admissibility.  It  was  enough 
that  the  orphan  was  an  orphan.  The  only  conditions 
laid  down  by  the  Bishop  were:  Both  parents  must 
be  dead  and  the  child  must  be  destitute. 

On  such  a  basis  the  venture  was  an  expression  of 
faith  in  God  and  confidence  in  humanity.  Neither 
the  faith  nor  the  confidence  was  misplaced.  They 
were  put  to  the  test  in  the  earliest  days,  the  trial  was 
met  successfully,  and  men  have  continued  the  reward 
uninterruptedly  and  in  overflowing  measure  to  the 
present  day.  The  immediate  incident,  upon  which 
the  Bishop  was  wont  to  dwell  was  this:  A  butcher, 
not  a  Churchman,  died  and  left  three  motherless 
children,  for  whom  there  were  no  relatives  to  pro- 
vide. As  soon  as  the  Bishop  heard  the  particulars 
he  directed  that  the  children  be  brought  to  the 
Home,  and  there  be  kept  and  nurtured  till  they 
should  be  able  to  earn  their  own  living.  This  action 
came  to  the  ears  of  the  butchers,  who  felt  that  such 

187 


RICHARD  HOOKER  WILMER 

a  kindness  to  one  of  their  number  was  a  kindness  to 
all.  They  manifested  their  appreciation  in  a  manner 
possibly  without  parallel.  In  the  many  years  that 
have  passed  they  have  supplied  the  Home  with  all 
the  fresh  meat  that  it  uses,  and  have  never  for  a  day 
wavered  in  their  generosity.  Money  is  invariably 
offered;  it  is  invariably  refused. 

The  breadth  of  spirit  thus  manifested  in  the  con- 
duct of  the  Home  commended  the  venture  to  the 
entire  city  and  had  everything  to  do  with  its  subse- 
quent success.  On  every  Shrove  Tuesday  the 
Churchwomen  of  the  three  parishes  of  Christ 
Church,  Trinity,  and  St.  John's  united  in  a  Bazaar, 
which  turned  into  the  treasury  about  two  thousand 
dollars  annually.  Once  in  every  year  the  train-men 
gave  a  portion  of  the  proceeds  of  their  excursion  to 
Biloxi,  amounting  to  several  hundred  dollars.  At 
least  once  the  Bishop  went  North  to  raise  some 
money. 

On  this  visit  a  dinner  was  given  him  in  New  York. 
After  the  coffee  and  when  the  conversation  had  be- 
come quite  general,  some  old  friends  asked  him  if 
some  pretty  hard  things  had  not  been  said  in  the 
South  about  the  North.  Of  course  he  had  to  reply 
in  the  affirmative.  \\'hen  urged  to  give  the  worst 
specimen  that  he  could  recall  he  said  that  the  worst 
was  probably  one  that  his  gallant  but  reckless  friend, 
Major  Harry  Maury,  had  used,  and  that  was  known 
locally  as  the  "Lazarus  conundrum."  When  urged 
to  repeat  it  he  declined.  "It  is  too  hard  on  you," 
he  said;  and  changed  the  subject.  But  the  curiosity 
of  the  others  was  now  excited,  and  they  would  not 

1 88 


GATHERING  UP  THE  FRAGMENTS 

be  satisfied  without  hearing  the  worst  thing  the 
South  had  said  about  the  North.  Still  the  Bishop 
decHned,  and  still  they  requested,  until  at  last  he 
said,  "Well,  if  you  will  have  it  so,  I  will  tell  you  the 
conundrum,  but  I  will  not  tell  you  the  answer.  You 
must  puzzle  it  out  for  yourselves.  What  Maury 
asked  was,  'Why  was  the  South  like  Lazarus?'  " 

Some  clever  but  incorrect  answers  were  given, 
and  finally  all  "gave  it  up"  and  demanded  the  answer. 
This  Bishop  Wilmer  declined  to  give,  citing  the 
agreement  that  he  was  only  to  propound  the  conun- 
drum. "The  answer  is  too  hard  on  you,"  he  pro- 
tested, "and  you  would  not  thank  me  for  telling  you." 

But  the  demand  was  more  urgent  than  ever,  and 
at  length  the  Bishop  said :  "All  right,  then.  I  w^arncd 
you  that  it  was  pretty  hard,  but  if  you  can  stand  it  I 
suppose  I  can.  Maury's  answer  to  the  conundrum, 
'Why  was  the  South  like  Lazarus?'  was:  'Because 
she  was  licked  by  dogs !'  " 

For  a  moment  there  was  the  silence  of  consterna- 
tion, all  staring  at  the  speaker,  some  pushing  their 
chairs  back  from  the  table.  But  the  revulsion  came 
almost  immediately.  Laughter  prevailed,  and  cries 
of  'Capital!'  'Hard,  but  good!'  and  the  like  arose. 
But  one  red-faced  old  gentleman,  sitting  just  across 
from  the  Bishop,  glared  at  him  in  speechless  rage, 
and  then  blurted  out, 

"Well,  sir,  if  you  at  the  South  consider  us  dogs, 
why  do  you  come  up  here  to  beg  for  money?" 

In  a  flash  the  Bishop  answered,  "Because,  sir,  in 
the  South  we  believe  in  the  proverb  that  the  hair 
of  the  dog  is  good  for  the  bite." 

189 


RICHARD  HOOKER  WTLMER 

The  table  rattled  with  the  applause  and  laughter, 
but  the  red-faced  old  gentleman  did  not  join  in. 
Next  morning,  however,  the  Bishop  received  from 
the  disgruntled  one  a  check  for  one  thousand  dollars 
for  the  orphanage. 

The  deaconesses  economized  at  every  point.  The 
economy  that  was  practised  was  of  such  real  nature 
and  was  assisted  by  such  real  generosity  that  all  the 
expenses  of  the  institution  for  the  year  1871  were 
less  than  thirty  dollars  for  each  inmate,  being  at  the 
rate  of  less  than  ten  cents  a  day.  With  the  amount 
saved  by  rigid  economy  the  Bishop  made  invest- 
ments. At  first  he  lent  the  money  on  individual 
notes.  When  the  amount  at  his  disposal  grew  larger 
he  lent  it  to  private  banking  houses.  When  the  sol- 
vency of  these  banks  grew  doubtful  he  invested  it  in 
Mobile  County  bonds.  When  the  principal  reached 
six  thousand  dollars  he  invested  it  in  Alabama  state 
bonds,  preferring  security  to  large  income.  The 
first  bonds  thus  bought  were,  in  consequence  of 
carpet-bag  misrule,  at  a  great  discount,  selling  at 
from  one-half  to  three-fourths  of  their  face  value,  and 
bearing  from  two  to  seven  per  cent.  On  the  "Class 
A"  bonds,  which  the  Bishop  regarded  with  special 
favor,  interest  increased  regularly  as  they  approached 
maturity,  and  his  investment  in  these  paid,  in  some 
cases,  ten  per  cent,  on  the  amount  invested.  It  was 
not  long  before  all  bonds  were  selling  at  par,  and 
after  1887  every  bond  purchased  was  bought  at  a 
premium. 

In  controlling  this  institution  the  Bishop  found 
scope  for  the  exercise  of  his  executive  ability,  and 

190 


GATHERING  UP  THE  FRAGMENTS 

this  ability  he  manifested  to  a  wonderful  extent.  His 
business  sagacity  was  so  great  that  he  never  made  a 
bad  investment  in  the  thirty-three  years  of  his  man- 
agement of  its  finances,  and  when  he  died  he  had 
large  holdings  of  real-estate  for  the  Home  in  Mobile 
and  a  well  secured  endowment  of  forty  thousand  dol- 
lars. 

The  Church  Home  for  Orphans  was  the  only 
institution  that  Bishop  Wilmer  set  on  its  feet,  but 
he  ever  retained  others  in  view.  He  looked  confi- 
dently forward  to  the  day  when  there  would  be  a 
Church  Infirmary,  a  Church  Home  for  Widows,  and 
a  Retreat  for  the  Abandoned;  and  he  expressed  the 
conviction  that  not  until  every  needful  agency  of  this 
kmd  had  been  established  could  the  Church  in  any 
Diocese  be  assured  that  she  was  fully  representing 
her  Divine  Head,  and  carrying  out  the  intent  of 
Christ's  mission  on  earth.  The  chief  obstacle  to 
further  development  along  these  lines  was  held  by 
the  Bishop  to  be,  not  money,  but  lack  of  women  who 
would  consecrate  their  lives  to  the  work. 


CHAPTER  X 

SOME  SERMONS  AND  SERMON  METHODS 

Bishop  W'ilmer  preached  another  great  sermon 
in  St.  John's  Church,  Savannah,  on  Thursday,  April 
2nd,  1868,  the  occasion  being  the  consecration  of  his 
former  presbyter,  John  W.  Beckwith,  as  Bishop  of 
Georgia.  The  service  itself  was  notable  in  that  it 
was  a  marked  advance  in  elaborateness  and  dignity 
over  any  similar  service  ever  before  held  in  the 
Southern  states.  Bishop  Young  of  Florida  had  in- 
terested himself  personally  for  weeks  ahead  in  train- 
ing the  choir.  The  Sursum  Corda,  the  Tersanctus, 
and  the  Gloria  in  Excelsis,  and  the  93rd  Hymn  to  the 
tune  Alear.  were  sung  by  the  choirs  and  people  to- 
gether. At  2  p.  m.,  after  the  Prayer  for  the  Church 
Militant,  the  larger  part  of  the  congregation  with- 
drew, and  at  3  p.  m.  the  service  concluded.  It  was 
the  first  choral  service  ever  held  on  occasion  of  a 
consecration  in  the  Southern  states.  The  sermon 
by  Bishop  Wilmer  was  one  hour  and  forty  minutes 
long.  l)ut  the  souvenir  account  of  the  service,  which 
was  printed  together  with  the  sermon  by  request 
of  the  vestry  of  St.  John's,  declares  that  "under  the 
fine  voice,  eloquent  tones,  and  vigorous  delivery  of 
the  preacher,  the  congregation  sat  unwearied." 

The  sermon  was  as  unlike  the   Elliott   Memorial 

192 


SOME  SERMONS  AND  SERMON  METHODS 

sermon  delivered  the  year  before  in  the  same  church 
as  could  be  well  imagined.  That  sermon  dealt  pure- 
ly with  a  person,  this  with  an  organization.  That 
was  political,  this  ecclesiastical.  That  appealed  to 
the  emotions,  this  to  the  intellect.  The  topic  was, 
"The  Church  of  the  Living  God — the  Stay  of  the 
Truth  and  the  Home  of  the  Faithful."  It  was  an 
eloquent  presentation  of  primitive  truth  and  apos- 
tolic order,  and  a  remarkably  simple  and  forcible  de- 
claration and  defence  of  the  Church's  comprehen- 
siveness. After  showing  that  the  Church  gathers 
from  all  quarters  by  the  accession  of  earnest  and 
catholic  minds  and  loses  at  all  points  by  the  depart- 
ure of  those  who  are  unable  to  take  in  her  catholic 
spirit,  he  illustrated  this  general  statement  by  the 
specific  cases  of  Calvinists,  Methodists,  and  extreme 
Tractarians,  and  maintained  his  thesis  in  the  follow- 
ing passages,  which  are  quoted  in  full : 

"The  solution  of  the  difficulty — for  it  does  create 
difficulties  in  some  candid  minds — is  to  be  found  in 
the  catholic  and  comprehensive  character  of  this 
Church,  which  suits  all  men  of  moderation,  and  does 
not  quite  satisfy  any  extreme  temperament.  Her 
Articles  have  a  savor  of  Election,  and  they  could  not 
fully  bring  out  the  Scriptures  without  it;  but  they  do 
not  go  far  enough  in  the  way  of  definition  to  satisfy 
the  Calvinist.  A  comparison  of  the  Thirty-nine  Ar- 
ticles would  show  this.  She  has  too  much  of  form 
to  please  the  great  mass  of  American  minds,  but  not 
enough  to  satisfy  the  Itahan  mind;  sufficient  to  en- 
sure the  doing  of  all  things  'decently  and  in  order,' 
but  not  enough  to  satisfy  the  superstitious  element. 

193 


RICHARD  HOOKER  WILMER 

In  a  word,  this  Church  is  all-sided,  touching  the 
Christian  world  at  every  point.  Persons  of  extreme 
opinions  fly  off  at  tangents  to  her  sphere,  and,  gath- 
ering themselves  by  elective  affinity  with  others  like- 
minded,  form  parts  of  bodies  with  more  or  less  of 
eccentricity  of  orbit. 

"And  should  it  be  urged  as  a  defect  of  this  Church 
that  so  many  and  diverse  movements  have  taken 
place  within  and  away  from  her  communion,  let  it 
never  be  forgotten  that  all  the  phases  of  religious 
thought,  and  all  the  various  religious  organizations 
of  ancient  times,  were  evolved,  at  one  time  or  an- 
other, from  the  bosom  of  the  Primitive  Apostolic 
Church.  Thus  it  will  appear  that  the  phenomena 
which  are  pointed  at  as  symptoms  of  defect  and  dis- 
ease are  most  pregnant  proofs  of  the  catholicity,  or 
wholeness  of  this  branch  of  Christ's  Church.  For 
it  must  be  considered  that  none  but  a  body  truly 
catholic  could  be  susceptible  of  such  diverse  move- 
ments; for  the  same  reason  that  it  is  only  the  perfect 
and  entire  human  body  that  is  susceptible  of  all  kinds 
of  disease.  For  errors  in  doctrine  are  not  so  much 
pure  inventions  as  perversions  of  some  original 
truth.  If  the  truth  is  not  held,  there  is  no  perver- 
sion of  it  possible.  For  example :  If  the  doctrine  of 
the  Intermediate  State  were  not  held,  there  would  be 
no  room  for  the  doctrine  of  Purgatory.  If  there 
were  no  reverence  for  the  Blessed  Virgin,  there 
could  be  no  room  for  Mariolatry.  If  there  were  no 
recognition  of  the  departed  faithful  in  the  'Com- 
munion of  Saints.'  there  could  be  no  room  for  their 
invocation.     If  the   Sacraments  were  not   retained, 

194 


SOME  SERMONS  AND  SERMON  METHODS 

there  could  be  no  development  of  Sacramentarian- 
ism.  If  there  were  no  Ministry,  there  could  be  no 
Priestcraft.  If  there  were  no  Ritual,  there  could  be 
no  Ritualism.  If  the  Unity  of  the  Godhead  were 
not  asserted,  there  could  be  no  Unitarianism.  If  the 
Holy  Evangel  were  not  taught,  there  could  be  no 
Evangelicalism.  If  Reason  had  no  scope,  there  could 
be  no  Rationalism.  In  a  word,  if  there  were  no  life, 
there  could  be  no  disease,  and  no  death. 

"Now,  if  men  were  perfect,  and  if  the  truths  of 
religion  were  perceived  absolutely  it  might  be  possi- 
ble to  conceive  of  truth  being  held  without  the  dan- 
ger of  exaggerating  and  perverting  it.  But  religious 
truth  is  not  absolutely  perceived,  as  is  mathematical 
truth,  and  men,  even  the  best  men,  are  most  imper- 
fect and  have  proclivities  to  error,  some  in  one  direc- 
tion and  some  in  another.  Consequently,  any  col- 
lection of  men,  in  any  condition  of  vigorous  life,  will 
manifest  all  tendencies,  and  manifest  them  variously 
in  proportion  to  the  largeness  and  all-sidedness  of 
the  system  which  holds  them  together.  The  very 
catholicity  of  the  body  necessitates  these  phenomena. 
The  attempt  to  avoid  this  possibility,  as  is  done 
when  men  separate  themselves  from  their  brethren 
and  address  themselves  to  the  maintenance  and  pro- 
pagation of  a  single  class  of  ideas,  may,  perhaps,  les- 
sen this  liability;  but  it  is  at  the  cost  of  mutilation. 
It  is  as  if  the  lung  should  be  torn  away  in  order  to 
guard  against  pneumonia;  it  is  as  if  life  should  be 
destroyed  in  order  to  render  disease  impossible." 

Affirming  that  while  this  Church  maintains  most 
firmly  the   Catholic  faith   she  yet  guarantees  most 

195 


RICHARD  HOOKER  WILMER 

fully  individual  liberty  of  thought,  and  that  though 
she  assures  the  integrity  and  perpetuity  of  the 
former  she  does  not  restrict  the  freedom  and  pro- 
gress of  the  latter,  he  said :  "The  importance  of  se- 
curing these  two  points,  and  of  securing  them  in 
conjunction,  cannot  easily  be  exaggerated.  *  *  *  it 
is  possible  to  conceive  of  a  system  which  shall  so 
subject  the  understanding,  and  reduce  it  to  an  un- 
enquiring  and  unintelligent  reception  of  dogma,  and 
of  all  teaching  as  dogma,  as  that  there  shall  be  no 
variableness  nor  shadow  of  difference  among  its 
adherents.  1  say  it  is  possible  to  conceive  of  such  a 
condition  of  things,  but  not  in  connection  with  life 
and  progress, — constituted  as  we  find  man  to  be. 
No  branch  of  the  Church  of  Christ  affords  any  such 
scene.  The  Church  of  Rome — with  all  her  boasted 
unity,  and  centre  of  alleged  infallibility — presents  no 
such  spectacle.  She  has  her  various  schools  of 
thought,  and  of  organization,  which  must  ever  be 
found  among  living  and  thinking  men.  Perhaps  in 
some  form  of  Heathenism,  out  of  which  all  life  is  de- 
parted, you  may  find  a  dead  monotony  of  unques- 
tioning acquiescence;  but  its  surface  is  thus  unruffled 
because  there  is  no  living  thing  that  moves  in  its 
depths.     It  is  the  unquestioning  silence  of  the  grave. 

"Ruling  out  all  else,  in  the  matter  of  doctrine,  as 
not  entering  into  the  terms  of  communion,  she  up- 
holds without  change  the  fundamental  faith.  Side 
by  side  at  her  altars  stand  the  Calvinist  and  the 
Arminian,  the  High  and  the  Low  Churchman.  If 
the  particular  views  of  either  party  were  pressed  and 

196 


SOME  SERMONS  AND  SERMON  METHODS 

admitted  to  the  exclusion  of  others,  there  would  be 
at  once  the  starting  point  of  new  denominational 
bodies  in  our  midst.  There  are  a  few  overheated 
minds  who  would  rejoice  in  this  solution  of  existing 
dififerences.  Thank  God,  they  constitute  a  feeble, 
though  excited,  minority  in  the  Church. 

"The  argument  which  is  urged  against  the  Church 
because  of  her  alleged  indefiniteness  of  teaching,  and 
her  seeming  indifference  upon  many  points  of  con- 
troversy, is  precisely  the  same  argument  which  is 
urged  by  the  infidel  against  Holy  Scriptures  them- 
selves. All  Churchmen,  it  is  urged,  appeal  to  the 
Prayer  Book  in  support  of  their  particular  views. 
True;  and  all  Christians  appeal  to  the  Holy  Scrip- 
tures in  support  of  their  respective  tenets.  But  the 
Scriptures  cannot  be  narrowed  down  to  the  dimen- 
sions of  a  school;  neither  can  the  teachings  of  the 
Prayer  Book,  which  faithfully  reflect  all  the  truths  of 
Holy  Scripture  in  all  their  breadth  and  fullness,  be 
narrowed  down  to  the  dimensions  of  any  party  in 
the  Church." 

This  sermon  was  not  written,  as  a  whole,  for  the 
occasion  on  which  it  was  preached.  It  comprised 
not  simply  the  thoughts  but  the  exact  words,  and 
occasionally  paragraphs,  of  earlier  sermons.  This 
was  an  illustration  of  a  fixed  habit  of  the  Bishop.  He 
never  hesitated,  when  the  line  of  thought  in  one  ser- 
mon followed  to  any  extent  the  line  of  thought  in 
another  of  his  own  sermons,  to  use  over  and  over 
again  the  common  thought  in  the  original  or  in  a 
slightly  modified  form.  Many  of  the  earlier  pages 
of  this  sermon  are  a  transcript  of  another  sermon 

197 


RICHARD  HOOKER  WILMER 

which  he  had  been  preaching  through  Alabama,  and 
from  which  the  changes  were  only  such  minor  ones 
as  are  inevitable  in  transcribing  one's  own  writings; 
as,  for  example,  the  substitution  of  "many"  for 
"some,"  of  "these  fundamental  truths  of  the  Chris- 
tian faith"  for  "the  great  facts  of  Christianity,"  of 
"her  embrace"  for  "her  ample  fold,"  and  such  like. 
After  its  delivery  in  Savannah,  it  was  still  further 
modified  and  was  later  published  in  a  large  edition 
as  the  initial  number  of  a  series  of  tracts  published 
by  the  short-lived  Church  Year  Publishing  Com- 
pany, of  Jacksonville,  Florida. 

The  sermon  which  furnished  so  much  material  for 
the  great  Consecration  Sermon  was  written  for  the 
consecration  of  Trinity  Church,  New  Orleans,  and 
was  preached  in  that  Church  by  the  Bishop  on  March 
5th,  1866.  The  sermon  laid  stress  upon  the  inherent 
inferiority  of  Roman  Theology  to  Anglican,  and 
was,  accordingly,  in  the  Bishop's  view  eminently  ap- 
propriate to  the  consecration  of  a  church  of  the  An- 
glican Communion  in  the  stronghold  of  Southern 
Romanism.  It  created  wide  comment,  both  of  ap- 
proval and  of  disapproval,  and  he  was  requested  to 
preach  it  on  numerous  occasions  subsequently.  It 
was  a  most  unusual  sermon  to  preach  at  the  Com- 
mencement exercises  of  a  State  University,  but  it 
was  the  Bishop's  baccalaureate  sermon  at  the 
University  of  Mississippi  in  the  following  June 
— probably  at  the  instance  of  Bishop  Green.  It  also 
served  as  the  visitation  sermon  at  Montgomery, 
Selma,  Huntsville,  Mobile,  and  smaller  places  in  the 
Diocese.     Two  years  later  it  w^as  preached  in  Christ 

198 


SOME  SERMONS  AND  SERMON  METHODS 

Church,  Tuskaloosa,  to  meet  a  local  condition.  The 
rector  of  that  parish  had  made  his  submission  to  the 
Church  of  Rome,  and  had  made  a  most  theatrical 
exit  from  his  rectorship,  employing  the  last  hour  of 
his  incumbency  in  unexpected  and  fierce  invective 
against  the  organization  from  which  he  had  not 
scrupled  to  receive  a  living,  and  filling  a  large  por- 
tion of  the  church  with  thugs  and  hard-fisted  Roman 
Catholics,  who  were  there  to  see  that  his  tirade  was 
not  cut  off  by  main  force.  Information  of  this  per- 
version having  come  to  the  Bishop  he  deposed  the 
presbyter,  and  came  to  Tuskaloosa  at  the  earliest  op- 
portunity. There  he  preached  his  controversial  ser- 
mon on  "The  Faith  once  delivered  to  the  saints,"  but 
he  did  not  once  allude  to  the  pervert.  He  left  per- 
sonalities behind,  and  taught  important  truth  while 
men  were  interested  and  therefore  receptive. 

The  preaching  of  this  sermon  was  in  line  with  the 
Bishop's  practice  of  preaching  sermons  that  w^ere 
timely  and  applicable  to  current  events  without  be- 
ing sensational.  Seizing  upon  a  matter  that  was 
engaging  men's  attention  he  would  preach  a  sermon 
that  bore  directly  on  the  matter  without  referring 
directly  to  it,  and  that  compelled  his  hearers  to  do 
some  thinking  and  make  some  applications  for  them- 
selves. This  is  the  genesis  of  his  famous  sermon 
on  "Manliness,"  which  is  published  in  the  second  edi- 
tion of  his  "Reminiscences."  Two  prominent  gentle- 
men. Churchmen,  of  high  standing  in  Alabama,  but 
still  under  the  impression  that  "manliness"  called 
for  the  instant  and  deadly  resentment  of  an  insult,  at- 
tempted to  shoot  each  other  down.      Fortunately 

199 


RICHARD  HOOKER  WILMER 

murder  was  not  the  outcome.  The  Bishop  ordered 
both  men  suspended  pubhcly  from  Communion,  and 
went  to  the  city  where  they  dwelt.  On  the  follow- 
ing Sunday,  in  their  presence,  he  preached  a  sermon 
on  the  words  of  King  David  to  his  son  Solomon,  "Be 
thou  strong,  therefore,  and  show  thyself  a  man." 
After  passing  in  review  the  various  standards  of 
manliness  held  by  the  Indian,  the  Arab,  and  the 
Greek,  and  demonstrating  the  vast  difference  be- 
tween the  manliness  of  a  "Sitting  Bull"  and  that  of 
an  "Aristides  the  Just,"  he  came  to  the  immediate 
question : 

"Advanced  as  we  may  be  in  morals  and  self-gov- 
ernment, society  is  as  yet  an  immeasurable  distance 
from  the  precepts  and  example  of  the  Son  of  Man. 
True  it  is  that  we  do  not,  except  in  our  Territories 
and  new  settlements,  decide  questions  of  title  to  land, 
etc.,  by  the  strong  hand;  but  an  unregulated  public 
opinion  still  condones,  if  it  does  not  justify,  the  ap- 
peal to  arms  in  the  duel  or  street-brawl.  Still  it  is 
true,  to  a  lamentable  extent,  that  men  are  called 
upon  to  'show  themselves  men,'  and  vindicate  their 
manliness  by  the  exhibition  of  brute  force. 

"The  duel  is  passing  away  before  the  advance  of 
Christian  civilization, — chiefly,  I  fear,  because  of  the 
political  disabilities  which  a  participation  in  it  in- 
volves; but  there  is  springing  up  in  its  place  the 
street-brawl,  in  which  men  find  satisfaction  for  their 
angry  passions.  The  daily  record  of  these  bloody 
encounters  is  a  blot  upon  the  civilization,  not  to  say 
the  Christianity,  of  the  age.  The  duel  had  a  touch 
of  chivalry,  and  originally  of  piety,  in  its  character; 

200 


SOME  SERMONS  AND  SERMON  METHODS 

for,  in  olden  times,  it  was  an  appeal  to  God  to  'show 
the  right.'  The  modern  street  brawl  is  an  unmiti- 
gated shame.  The  rules  of  ancient  chivalry  allowed 
that  a  combat  might  honorably  terminate  by  the 
presence,  on  the  field,  of  a  lady,  a  priest,  or  a  king, — 
the  presence  of  the  latter  representing  the  supremacy 
of  the  law.  Is  the  omnipresence  of  the  King  of 
Kings  no  reality  to  one  who  has  sworn  fealty  to  that 
Sovereign  ? 

"Whence  comes  that  imperious  law  wdiich  holds 
our  men  to  such  a  fearful  issue;  which  compels  them, 
as  I  have  often  known,  to  stifle  the  best  feelings  in 
their  hearts,  to  insult  the  majesty  of  human  law,  and 
to  put  their  sacrilegious  hands  upon  that  preroga- 
tive which  God  himself  proclaims  'is  Mine'?  If  1 
know  W'hence  it  is,  it  must  be  because  men  imagine 
that  their  honor — their  manliness — is  involved.  Is 
this  indeed  so?  Waive  all  consideration  of  the  rea- 
son, the  good  citizenship,  the  piety  of  it,  if  possible, 
does  manliness  require  it?  By  what  rule  shall  we 
try  this  question  ?  Which  way  shall  we  go  to  find  it  ? 
Shall  we  go  upward,  and  regard  man  after  that  Di- 
vine likeness  in  which  he  was  made?  Or  shall  we 
go  downward  and  seek,  in  the  resemblance  which  he 
bears  to  the  lower  creation,  the  source  of  that  un- 
ruled passion  which  impels  him,  upon  every  provo- 
cation, to  resort  to  brute  force  in  deadly  combat? 

"Here  we  find  it, — low  down  in  the  unreasoning 
passion  and  brute  instinct  which  locks  the  beasts  of 
the  field  in  deadly  conflict;  in  the  venomous  reptile, 
which  strikes  its  fang  into  whatever  crosses  its  path 
or  purpose;  in  the  savage  state,  where  one's  manli- 

201 


RICHARD  HOOKER  WTLMER 

ness  is  measured  by  his  unrelenting  hate  to  an 
enemy,  and  his  manly  prowess  by  the  number  of 
scalps  that  hang  on  the  wall  of  his  wigwam.  *  *  * 

"Now  go  with  me  from  the  lowest  grade  of  human 
nature, — the  savage  in  his  war-paint,  nursing  his  hate 
as  a  virtue;  having  no  word  for  forgiveness,  because 
not  knowing  what  it  is.  Trace  this  nature  as  it 
emerges  from  the  barbarous  into  the  Christian  life 
(and  there  are  men  who  fear  God,  and  love  their 
fellow-men);  trace  it  through  all  its  gradations  of 
excellence,  until  you  reach  the  Son  of  man,  the  'lost 
Image'  of  God  the  Father,  and  say,  'What  is  it  to 
show  one's  self  a  man?'  " 

Manifestly  there  was  here  no  paltering  with  truth. 
The  surgeon's  hand  was  firm  and  pitiless  toward  the 
evil  because  his  heart  was  warm  and  pitiful  toward 
the  evil  doers.  It  is  worth  remarking  that  as  the 
outcome  of  that  sermon  the  old-time  ideal  of  man- 
liness in  at  least  two  men  of  that  community  fell 
from  that  day  before  the  ideal  of  manliness  so  fear- 
lessly and  wisely  set  up  by  their  Bishop.  At  the 
earnest  request  of  the  most  prominent  citizens  of  the 
place  the  Bishop  remained  in  the  city  another  week, 
and  on  the  following  Sunday  repeated  the  sermon  to 
an  overflowing  congregation. 

The  crowning  thought  of  this  sermon,  that  Christ 
is  the  true  standard  of  Manliness,  was  directly  in  line 
with  a  conversation  which  he  had  but  recently  had 
with  a  friend  of  his  earlier  days.  This  friend  avowed 
himself  an  unbeliever.  He  said  he  had  tried  to  be- 
lieve, but  that  no  proof  had  yet  satisfied  him.  The 
Bishop  tried  him  along  several  lines  of  proof,  but 

202 


SOME  SERMONS  AND  SERMON  METHODS 

found  that  his  friend  would  not  admit  anything  that 
would  give  common  ground  for  the  beginning  of  the 
argument. 

At  last  the  Bishop  asked,  "Do  you  not  think  that 
it  is  the  duty  of  every  man  to  try  to  bring  himself 
to  his  highest  possible  perfection  as  a  man?" 

"Unquestionably/'   said   the   friend. 

"Then,  again :  In  aiming  at  this  perfection  should 
we  not  seek  the  most  perfect  model  for  imitation? 
If  you  wished  to  produce  a  representation  of  any 
object  in  nature,  either  in  sculpture  or  in  painting, 
would  you  not  seek  to  find  the  most  perfect  specimen 
of  the  object  sought  to  be  represented?" 

"Most  assuredly,"  he  replied. 

"Well,  now;  tell  me  who  is  the  most  perfect  man 
of  whom  you  have  ever  heard  or  read?" 

The  question  made  the  gentleman  serious  and 
silent.  Finally  he  said  in  a  subdued  tone:  "I  have 
never  heard  of  but  one  man  without  fault." 

"Who  was  he?" 

"Jesus  Christ." 

"Then,"  said  the  Bishop,  gathering  up  his  pre- 
vious admissions,  "You  have  no  alternative.  It  is 
your  duty  to  try  to  bring  yourself  to  your  highest 
possible  perfection  by  taking  Christ  as  the  mould 
and  pattern  by  which  to  work." 

The  friend  had  an  honest  mind,  and  he  said, 

"You  have  brought  me  to  a  conclusion  that  I  did 
not  expect  to  reach;  but  I  see  no  way  to  escape  it." 

And  it  was  a  conclusion  that  the  Bishop  pressed 
home  under  many  varying  circumstances. 

Conditions  seemed  to  call  for  an  appropriate  ser- 

203 


RICHARD  HOOKER  WILMER 

mon  a  short  while  later.  It  was  in  the  year  just  be- 
fore the  great  panic  of  1873.  The  nation's  financial 
leaders  were  absorbed  in  great  projects  of  railway 
building  and  industrial  development,  and  they  gave 
the  keynote  to  the  thoughts  of  those  of  smaller  ca- 
pacity and  opportunity.  Everywhere  men  were 
making  haste  to  become  rich,  and  Southern  men,  with 
vivid  remembrance  of  recent  scarceness  and  hard- 
ship, were  striving  in  every  way  to  make  every  dollar 
that  the  opportunity  offered.  As  a  rule  the  men  of 
affairs  had  little  time  or  interest  for  matters 
ecclesiastical  or  religious.  Into  Christ  Church,  Mo- 
bile, came  Bishop  Wilmer  one  Sunday  morning  with 
a  sermon  partly  written  out.  but  wholly  thought  out, 
on  our  Lord's  words,  "A  man's  life  consisteth  not  in 
the  abundance  of  the  things  which  he  possesseth." 
The  business  men  of  Mobile  were  there  in  full  force, 
as  they  always  were  when  it  was  announced  that  the 
Bishop  would  preach;  for  not  only  did  they  delight 
to  honor  their  fellow-citizen,  but  they  were  ever 
glad,  apart  from  any  sense  of  duty,  to  hear  things 
homiletically  treated  in  Bishop  Wilmer's  masterly 
manner. 

"It  does  not  require  the  greatest  capacity,"  the 
Bishop  told  them  in  the  beginning,  "to  ensure 
abundance.  Industry,  economy,  thrift,  and  above 
all,  what  men  call  luck,  will  often  ensure  abundance, 
where  there  is  a  lamentable  deficiency  in  the  higher 
qualities  of  intellect  and  heart.  For  they  all  may, 
and  often  do,  exist  in  connection  with  deceit,  dis- 
honesty, cruelty,  unbelief,  and  utter  godlessness. 
They  may  be  found  in  full  perfection  in  the  ant  and 

204 


SOME  SERMONS  AND  SERMON  METHODS 

bee,  and  are  rewarded  with  abundance.  Who  has 
not  seen  examples  of  splendid  genius,  linked  to  ex- 
quisite  sensibility,  devoted  unselfishly  to  the  good 
of  others,  the  life  of  Christ  faintly  reproduced  in  one 
of  His  followers — not,  indeed,  lacking  bread,  but 
straitened?  And,  on  the  other  hand,  (who  has  not 
seen  it?),  you  will  see  a  gross  and  sordid  mind,  ab- 
sorbed in  self,  oblivious  of  human  want — and  rolling 
in  abundance.  *  *  * 

"After  one  has  a  suf^ciency  of  food  and  raiment, 
and  enough  for  the  cultivation  of  his  intellect,  what 
further  relation  does  abundance  bear  to  the  great 
needs  of  human  nature?  One  cannot  enjoy  more 
than  so  much.  He  has  no  more  appetite  and  diges- 
tion; often  less.  The  web  of  his  garments  may  be 
finer,  but  they  are  no  warmer.  His  bed  may  be 
softer,  but  the  sleep  is  not  in  the  bed,  but  in  him 
that  lies  thereon.  Does  any  one  doubt  that,  so  far 
as  the  animal  enjoyment  is  concerned,  our  servants, 
who  have  fewer  cares,  whose  appetites  are  sharpened 
by  labor,  whose  sleep  is  sounder  from  toil,  enjoy 
more  of  our  abundance  than  the  owners  thereof? 

^      'I'      'T* 

"See  what  he  revolves  in  his  mind :  'Soul,  thou  hast 
much' — What?  Much  responsibility  and  great  op- 
portunities? Alas,  abundance  does  not  necessarily 
bring  in  this  train  of  thought.  'Soul,  thou  hast 
much  goods  laid  up  for  many  years.  Take  thine 
ease,  my  soul,  eat,  drink,  and  be  merry.  Why 
doesn't,  every  one  get  riches?  I  got  me  these 
riches.'  What  thought  God  of  these  communings 
of  a  man  with  his  soul — God,  who  made  his  ground 

205 


RICHARD  HOOKER  WILMER 

to  bring  forth  plentifully,  who  hates  his  children  to 
be  selfish,  just  as  we  hate  our  children  to  be  selfish? 
*Thou  fool!'  And  was  he  not  a  fool?  Oh,  that  a 
man  has  so  lived  that  his  Maker  calls  him  a  'fool' !  *  * 

"We  look  with  a  sort  of  wonderment  upon  the 
owners  of  large  estates.  We  appraise  their  value, 
and  say  'they  are  worth  so  much.'  It  is  wholesome 
to  know  what  God  thinks  of  unsanctihed  abundance ; 
how  He  comes  down  upon  one  who  is  regarded  as  a 
model  of  worldly  prudence,  who  is  held  up  as  an  ex- 
ample to  the  rising  generation  of  what  thrift  and 
industry  can  accomplish,  with  the  appalling  rebuke. 
Thou  fool !'  And  was  he  not  a  fool  ?  To  think  that 
God  had  blessed  him  with  abundance,  only  that  he 
might  the  more  steep  his  soul  in  enjoyment!  To 
suppose  that  this  life,  so  charged  with  sympathies 
and  noble  aspirations,  consisted  in  abundance  of  pos- 
sessions! *  *  * 

"What  is  the  conclusion  of  the  whole  matter? 
One  must  not  supremely  seek  and  desire  that  of 
which  life  does  not  consist;  a  man's  life — the  Word 
does  not  say  a  brute's  life." 

The  sermon  did  service  for  at  least  six  years,  and 
it  was  preached  in  every  important  church  in  South 
Alabama,  the  last  recorded  delivery  being  in  St. 
John's  Church,  Montgomery,  November  24th, 
'1878. 

Enough  has  been  written  on  this  subject  to  show 
in  what  spirit  the  Bishop  preached.  To  a  young 
clergyman  he  once  wrote  (November  8th,  1889): 

"  'Let  no  man  despise  thy  youth.'  So  said  St. 
Paul  to  his  son  Timothy.     And  I  say  unto  you,  The 

206 


SOME  SERMONS  AND    SERMON  METHODS 

field  is  the  world,'  and  a  large  field  it  is.  We  must  let 
our  people  realize  this.  They  must  learn  that  we 
who  are  commissioned  to  preach  the  Gospel  are  not 
tied  dow^n  by  our  relations  to  little  villages — that  if 
they  will  not  hear  and  receive  and  act  upon  the  Word 
preached  there  are  other  fields  open.  You  know  the 
origin  and  significance  of  the  term  'Pagan.'  It 
meant  originally  a  villager.  The  cities  received  the 
Faith  long  before  the  villagers  (Pagans)  received  it. 
Thus  the  name  'Pagan'  and  'unchristian'  became 
synonymous  terms. 

"Therefore,  my  son.  do  you,  looking  up  to  Heaven 
for  the  aid  of  the  Holy  Ghost — the  Quickening 
Spirit,  the  Lord  and  the  Life-giver — preach  the 
Word.  Speak  as  one  who  represents  the  Christ. 
The  men  who  conquer  are  they  who  preach  the 
Master.  Every  word  that  He  says  is  true,  and  makes 
itself  manifest  to  every  man's  conscience.  Some 
preach  to  the  reason;  some  to  the  imagination;  some 
to  the  taste.    Do  you  preach  to  the  conscience?" 


CHAPTER  XI 

A   CONTROVERSIALIST 

The  panic  of  1875  disorganized  all  diocesan  and 
parochial  undertakings,  crippled  the  larger  congre- 
gations, and  threatened  the  extinction  of  all  mission- 
ary operations.  The  General  Board  of  Missions  had 
felt  the  coming  stringency  first,  and  within  a  brief 
period  had  cut  ofT  more  than  two-thirds  of  its  ap- 
propriation to  Alabama.  Diocesan  contributions 
began  to  dry  up,  partly  because  of  general  condi- 
tions, but  most  largely  because  of  local  demands  for 
church  l)uildings  and  other  parochial  enterprises 
which  the  largest  contributors — Mobile,  Montgom- 
ery, Selma,  and  Huntsville — had  begun  and  were 
forced  to  complete.  Consequent  upon  the  reduc- 
tion of  income  was  the  reduction  of  the  clerical  force. 
Many  of  the  clergy  moved  elsewhere  in  hope,  often 
vain,  of  bettering  their  financial  condition,  and  a 
large  number  of  church  doors  were  not  opened  for 
months.  The  one  bright  ray  in  the  darkness  was  n 
check  for  two  thousand  dollars,  which  Miss  Cath- 
erine WolfTe  of  New  York  sent  the  Bishop  to  re- 
lieve the  distress  of  the  Diocese. 

The  time  of  recovery  was  long  and  trying.  Re- 
adjustment required  years.  The  financial  and  indus- 
trial depression  brought,  as  it  always  brings,  social 

208 


A  CONTROVERSIALIST 

and  individual  restlessness.  Hundreds  of  men  joined 
the  procession  of  emigrants  then  moving  towards 
the  Great  West.  The  Bishop  had  found  two  thous- 
and communicants  when  he  came  to  Alabama;  he 
had  added,  in  thirteen  years,  five  thousand  by  con- 
firmation; and  yet  scarcely  three  thousand  com- 
municants could  be  found  as  the  result  of  all  this 
work.  The  whole  State  was  suffering  from  deple- 
tion of  population.  Its  mineral  wealth  and  timber 
resources  were  untouched.  Factories  were  hardly 
dreamed  of.  The  cultivated  fields,  the  State's  basis 
of  wealth,  were  wearing  out  under  negligent  hus- 
bandry. In  not  a  few  portions  of  the  State  the 
original  forest  was  beginning  to  encroach  upon  the 
fields  once  white  with  cotton,  or  green  with  waving 
corn,  and  primeval  desolation  was  spreading  her  do- 
minion. 

With  these  conditions  opposing  her  the  Church, 
perforce,  retired  from  many  an  advanced  position. 
Bishop  Wilmer  strove  patiently  and  hopefully  to 
meet  the  demands  that  came  from  every  quarter. 
Never  a  word  of  complaint  came  from  his  lips  until 
the  Board  of  Missions  once  more  reduced  its  appro- 
priation to  Alabama — this  time  almost  to  the  van- 
ishing point — and  then  he  spoke  his  mind  about 
what  he  could  not  but  deem  the  Board's  spiritual  kin- 
ship to  Meroz  (Judges  5  :  23)  : 

"In  the  midst  of  our  peculiar  depression,"  he  said 
to  his  Council,  "I  had  indulged  the  hope  that  the 
General  Missionary  Board  would  come  to  the  aid  of 
the  Church  in  the  Southern  dioceses.  It  would 
have  been  a  reasonable  hope.     We  might  have  been 

209 


RICHARD  HOOKER  WILMER 

pardoned  for  supposing  that  the  wise  admonition  of 
the  Apostle  would  have  been  heeded — *As  we  have 
opportunity,  let  us  do  good  unto  all  men.  especially 
unto  them  which  are  of  the  household  of  faith.'  I 
wish  to  say  no  word  in  disparagement  of  any  effort 
that  looks  to  the  weal  of  any  class  of  men.  I  recog- 
nize fully  the  claim  of  the  barbarian.  But  it  strikes 
me  that,  for  every  reason,  it  is  the  wise  policy  and 
stern  duty  of  the  Church  to  abandon  no  position  that 
has  been  already  gained,  and  to  lose  no  ground  that 
has  been  once  occupied.  If  the  Church  in  this  coun- 
try is  to  play  the  important  part  in  the  evangelization 
of  the  world  that  she  is  fitted  for,  then  she  is  but 
poorly  preparing  herself  for  the  mighty  work  in 
hand  by  allowing  large  areas  of  territory  now  occu- 
pied by  Anglo-Saxon  people,  to  lie  neglected,  and 
(which  is  sadder  still)  to  permit  churches  already 
established  to  perish  for  want  of  aid  during  a  period 
of  peculiar  distress  and  impoverishment." 

But  when  everything  has  been  said,  it  remains 
that  the  secret  of  missionary  failure  in  Alabama  at 
the  time  under  consideration  was,  as  it  is  always  and 
everywhere,  not  inability  but  indifference.  That 
domestic  indifference  had  become  well-nigh  open 
hostility  is  shown  by  a  passage  from  the  Bishop's 
Council  Address  of  1874.  "I  will  not  press  the  mat- 
ter further,"  was  his  heart-sick  conclusion,  after  a 
plain  recital  of  the  facts.  "I  have,  perhaps,  in  the 
judgment  of  some,  been  already  too  importunate. 
If  they  think  so.  they  must  forgive  me  for  my  cause." 

Despite  his  discouragement  the  Bishop  steadily 
went  the  round  of  his  visitations,  and  he  was  able 

210 


A  CONTROVERSIALIST 

to  say  at  nearly  every  Council  that  he  had  not  failed 
during  the  year  to  visit  every  place  where  there  were 
candidates  for  confirmation.  His  only  interruptions 
were  those  caused  by  recurrent  illnesses.  At  times 
he  would  prolong  his  stay  in  a  place.  But  when  ill, 
or  when  hurried  because  of  precedent  illness,  he 
would  curtail  his  visit.  Not  being  disposed  to  in- 
vite sympathy  by  advertising  his  ailments,  the 
Bishop  not  infrequently  suffered  misunderstanding 
on  this  point.  On  one  such  occasion  a  lady  in  a 
small  parish  said,  complainingly. 

"Bishop,  you  are  making  such  a  short  stay  with 
us  this  year." 

"Yes,"  he  retorted;  "a  short  horse  is  soon  cur- 
ried." 

Apathy  as  to  Church  extension  within  her  own 
borders  characterized  the  Church  in  Alabama  for 
ten  years.  The  missionary  work  disintegrated,  and 
the  missionary  force  slipped  away.  The  Bishop  did 
what  he  could  do  personally,  but  he  remembered  his 
promise  to  importune  the  Council  on  this  subject 
no  more,  and  in  all  this  time  he  did  not  refer  to  it 
in  any  official  utterance, — save  that,  in  1878,  he  com- 
plained of  the  "utter  want  of  all  system"  in  every 
branch  of  ecclesiastical  endeavor,  and  suggested  that 
the  clergy  and  laity  should  be  associated  with  him- 
self in  the  management  of  the  missionary  work. 
The  Council  played  football  with  the  suggestion,  at- 
tempting to  do  the  thing  suggested  in  an  orderly 
way,  but  paying  so  much  attention  to  the  order  that 
the  doing  was  quite  neglected. 

The  Bishop  enjoyed  a  greater  degree  of  leisure 

21 1 


RICHARD  HOOKER  WILMER 

than  had  hitherto  been  possible  with  him  and  he  oc- 
cupied it  partly  in  ecclesiastical  debate,  contributing 
by  his  writings  articles  of  solid  and  permanent  value. 
In  conversation  he  would  not  ordinarily  debate  on 
ecclesiastical  subjects,  but  when  he  did  so  he  usually 
gained  a  victory  over  his  antagonist  by  an  unsus- 
pected stroke  of  wit. 

One  day  a  goodly  number  of  friends  had  gathered 
around  the  table  of  a  host  who  was  a  Baptist.  Many 
Baptists  the  Bishop  loved  much, — but  not  as  Bap- 
tists. The  host's  brother,  having  been  a  Baptist, 
had  that  day  been  confirmed,  and  was,  therefore,  the 
object  of  some  supposed  wit  at  the  mouth  of  his 
brother.  Pretty  soon  the  host  turned  to  the  Bishop 
and  said, 

"Have  you  heard  yet,  Bishop,  what  made  brother 
H join  your  church?" 

"No,"  responded  the  Bishop,  "I  never  did,  but  I 
can  well  imagine  that  he  had  at  least  as  good  a  rea- 
son for  doing  it  as  you  have  for  not  doing  it." 

"Perhaps  that's  so,"  returned  the  host;  "we'll  not 
dispute  about  it;  but  it  occurred  in  this  way:  There 

happened  to  be  a  very  rainy  Sunday so  rainy,  in 

fact,  that  the  pastor  was  not  at  church.     So  brother 

H— was  called  upon  to  'lead  in  prayer.'     He 

was  not  much  used  to  praying  in  public,  and  was  nat- 
urally very  much  confused.  Among  other  things 
he  prayed  and  thanked  for,  he  said,  'We  thank  Thee, 
O  Lord,  that  Thou  art  here  in  our  midst  notwith- 
standing the  inclemency  of  the  weather !'     Brother 

H was   so  mortified  and  disgusted  with   his 

performence  that  from  that  time  forth  he  resolved  to 

212 


A  CONTROVERSIALIST 

join  a  church  where  he  could  'pray  out  of  a  book.'  " 
After  the  laughter  had  subsided,  the  Bishop  quiet- 
ly  observed   to   his   host :    "  It   is   quite   noticeable, 
Colonel,  that  your  brother  has  somewhat  the  same 
reason  for  entering  the  Church  that  Noah  had  for 
Qoing-  into  the  Ark." 
"What  is  that?"  asked  the  host. 
"  'The  great  inclemency  of  the  weather,'  Colonel." 
This  was  his  quietly  humorous  method  of  defence. 
On  the  offensive  the  Bishop  was  simply  merciless. 
One  day  he  had  to  travel  in  company  with  a  Baptist 
preacher,   who,   with   what   the   Bishop   called   "the 
characteristic  impetuosity  of  his  sect,"  plunged  in- 
continently into  the  water  question,  and  proclaimed 
with   unnecessary  vehemence  his  views  on  immer- 
sion, for  which  nobody  in  the  company  was  calling 
him   to  account.     The   Bishop   heard   him   through 
without  interruption,  and  then  suggested  that  a  pre- 
vious question  must  be  settled. 

"What  is  that?"  asked  the  Baptist. 
"The  question  of  Who  is  to  baptize.  You  make  it 
altogether  a  question  of  How.  Now  I  contend  that 
we  must  first  dispose  of  the  question  of  the  Minis- 
try— the  'Who'  in  the  matter;  we  can  then  look  at 
the  'How.'  You  look  at  the  command  'Go  ye  and 
baptize,'  but  don't  sufficiently  consider  who  were  the 
'Ye'  spoken  to  and  commanded  to  baptize.  There 
is  a  question  of  authority  involved.  It  is  not,  as  you 
assume,  a  question  merely  or  chiefly  of  mode — of 
how  much  water  to  use,  of  how  much  wax  to  put 
on  the  seal — but,  much  more  importantly,  of  author- 
ity to  apply  the  element,  to  affix  the  seal." 


213 


RICHARD  HOOKER  WILMER 

The  Baptist  confessed  that  he  had  given  but  httle 
thought  to  this  aspect  of  the  question,  and  insisted 
that  the  discussion  should  be  confined  to  the  "mode 
of  baptism."  The  Bishop  consenting,  the  Baptist 
brought  up  in  detail  the  familiar  proof  passages  from 
Scripture,  especially  such  incidents  as  the  baptism 
of  the  eunuch  by  Philip.  In  every  case  the  Bishop 
showed  that  in  the  absence  of  clear  and  explicit  state- 
ment we  are  compelled  to  "infer  the  mode." 
"Water"  was  here,  going  "into"  the  water  was  here, 
and  coming  "up  out  of  the  water"  was  here.  But 
exactly  what  was  done  when  they  were  both  in  the 
water — whether  the  minister  put  the  candidate  un- 
der the  water  or  put  the  water  over  the  candidate — 
was  not  stated,  and  was,  therefore,  purely  a  matter 
of  inference.  He  showed  further  that  if,  because 
it  is  said  "They  went  down  both  into  the  water,"  we 
should  infer  that  "under  the  water"  is  meant,  then 
such  inference  would  immerse  both  Philip  and  the 
eunuch,  both  minister  and  subject, — an  inference 
that  we  would  be  loth  to  accept.  The  Baptist  could 
not  gainsay  this  reasoning.  He  lost  his  head  and 
asked  the  Bishop  a  controversial  question — a  move 
that  was  always  fatal  to  the  Bishop's  antagonist. 
"Don't  you  think,"  he  asked,  "that  there  are  un- 
questionable examples  in  Scripture  of  immersion?" 

"I  must  confess  that  there  are,"  answered  the 
Bishop,  fishing.  "But  just  now  I  can  recall  only 
three  instances." 

"Which  are  they?"  asked  the  disputant,  thinking 
to  get  a  valuable  admission. 

"The  first  and  most  striking  case  is  that  which 

214 


A  CONTROVERSIALIST 

occurred  at  the  Deluge.  You  remember  that  the 
Church  at  that  time  was  in  the  Ark,  and  that  the  rest 
of  the  world  w^as  drowned — in  all  probability  by  be- 
ing immersed.  The  Church  of  God  was  saved  from 
perishing  by  water  by  being  in  the  Ark." 

With  visage  not  so  cheerful  the  preacher  asked 
for  the  second  instance. 

"The  next  instance  I  can  recall  is  that  of  the  im- 
mersion of  the  Egyptians  in  the  Red  Sea.  You  re- 
member that  the  Israelites,  who  were  the  first  to 
cross  the  Red  Sea  were,  as  the  Scriptures  inform 
us,  'baptized  unto  Moses  in  the  cloud  and  in  the 
sea;'  and  as  they  are  said  to  have  gone  over  'dry- 
shod,'  they  must  have  been  baptized  by  being 
sprinkled.  But  you  remember,  also,  that  the 
Egyptians,  who  essayed  to  pursue  those  baptized 
people  were  all  drowned — most  probabl}^  by  being 
immersed.  Thus  twice  was  the  Church  of  God  saved 
from  'perishing  by  water;'  and  thousands  to-day,  sir, 
are  in  danger,  by  their  excessive  valuation  of  'im- 
mersion,' of  'perishing  by  water.'  " 

Still  the  Baptist  pressed  the  question.  "You 
spoke  of  three  cases  of  immersion.  What  is  the 
third?" 

"The  third  instance  is  that  recorded  in  the  New 
Testament,  where  a  herd  of  swine,  under  demoniacal 
possession,  'ran  violently  down  a  steep  place  into  the 
sea,  and  perished  in  the  waters.'  And  it  is  quite  a  no- 
table fact,  my  friend,  that  in  the  three  unquestionable 
cases  of  immersion  on  record  the  parties  seemed  to 
be  acting  under  malign  influences,  and  came  to  a 
fearful  end." 

215 


RICHARD  HOOKER  WILMER 

Not  until  this  generalization  was  reached  did  the 
Baptist  brother  realize  that  the  Bishop  had  taken 
the  only  method  he  had  of  shaking  himself  loose 
from  a  controversy  which  he  had  not  desired,  which 
he  knew  would  be  fruitless  of  good,  and  which  he 
had,  therefore,  conducted  on  principles  of  interpre- 
tation that  even  his  pursuer  could  understand. 

In  his  public  writings  and  addresses,  however, 
there  was  not  the  most  distant  approach  to  levity  or 
jocularity.  An  impartial  statement  of  the  question, 
a  searching  but  not  microscopic  examination  of  ar- 
guments for  and  against,  and  a  distinct  and  unquali- 
fied assertion  of  his  own  conclusions  and  position, 
marked  his  every  entry  into  debate  and  his  every 
pastoral  address.  The  times  were  characterized  by 
ecclesiastical  strenuousness  and  by  fierceness  of  dis- 
putation over  what  appear  to  us,  as  the  outcome  of 
that  vigor  of  debate,  trivial  matters.  Ritual  was  as 
much  an  occasion  of  ecclesiastical  disruption  as  was 
doctrine.  The  "Catholic"  movement  was  beginning 
to  be  more  aggressive,  and  every  peculiarity  of  rit- 
ual was  seized  upon  by  the  ultra-conservatives  as  a 
proof  of  incipient  Popery.  One  Bishop  and  several 
clergy  withdrew  from  the  Protestant  Episcopal  com- 
munion because  they  were  compelled  to  use  the 
word  "regenerate"  in  the  Baptismal  Oflfice,  the  trou- 
ble being  with  their  own  insufficient  theological 
training,  for  they  gave  to  the  word  "regenerate"  a 
meaning  that,  probably,  it  never  had,  and  that,  cer- 
tainly, it  never  had  in  the  American  Church,  and 
then  denounced  as  false  the  teaching  that  they  mis- 
understood. 

2l6 


A  CONTROVERSIALIST 

Ritual   questions  became  so  burning  that   along- 
with    twenty-six    other    bishops    W'ilmer    signed    a 
"Declaration"    in    which   the    main    point    was    that 
particular  and  national  churches  have  authority  to 
decree  rites  and  ceremonies,  and  that  the  introduc- 
tion of  usages  hitherto  unknown  in  this  branch  of 
the  Church  should  not  be  allowed,  save  under  com- 
petent authority.     Some  had  been  setting  forth  that 
the  rubrics  and  precedents  of  the  Church  of  Eng- 
land were  obligatory  on  the  Church  in  America,  and 
it  was  against  this  dangerous    teaching    that    the 
"Declaration"  was  aimed.  The  contention  had  short 
shrift  with  Bishop  Wilmer.    "The  question  of  Ritual 
is  not  settled  in  the  Anglican  Church,"  he  said;  "and 
it  is  altogether  unseemly,  to  say  the  least,  that  pre- 
cedent, and  usage,  and  even  law,  should  be  claimed 
in  this  Church  for  practices  the  legality  of  which  is 
now  under  discussion  in  the  Church  of  England." 
The  only  "authority"  that  he  recognized  in  the  mat- 
ter was  the  authority  of  the  American  Church.    That 
this  authority  had  not  yet  been  exercised  did  not 
affect  the  right  to  exercise  it,  which  was  claimed  in 
her  adoption  of  the  thirty-fourth  Article  of  Religion. 
There  had   been  no   necessity  heretofore  for    pre- 
scribing rites  and  ceremonies,  universal  custom  hav- 
ing had  the  force  of  prescription ;  but  now  that  wide 
divergences  were  appearing    it  was    time    for    the 
Church  to  put  an  end  to  controversy  by  laying  down 
the  minimum  that  would  be  required  in  ritual  and 
the  maximum  that  would  be  tolerated.     The  Bishop 
declared  that  he  w^as  not  seeking  narrow  limits  of 
conformity.     He  held  that  it  would  be    most    un- 

217 


RICHARD  HOOKER  WILMER 

philosophical — not  to  say  uncatholic — to  attempt  to 
rule  down  every  mind  and  every  age  to  one  form  and 
degree  of  ritualistic  expression.  He  truly  asserted 
that  whatever  tends  to  the  healthy  development  of 
sound  religious  sentiment  may  be  safely  made  sub- 
servient to  the  worship  of  the  Most  High  God. 
"Where  ritualistic  expression  proceeds  from,  and 
is  guided  by,  the  genuine  religious  principle — the 
love  of  God  shed  abroad  in  our  heart  by  the  Holy 
Ghost — there  is  no  danger  to  be  apprehended  from 
any  excess  of  outward  manifestation,  ruled  by  a 
sound  discretion."  But  discretion  would  demand 
that  there  be  proportion  betw-een  the  customs  of  the 
people  sought  and  the  ritual  offered.  The  Anglo- 
Saxon  taste  is  less  sensuous  than  that  of  the  Latin 
peoples,  and  Anglo-Saxons  of  the  salvable  sort  were 
repelled  by  extravagances  and  unnecessary,  even  if 
lawful,  innovations  in  the  conduct  of  the  services. 
Some,  he  granted,  would  be  attracted  by  a  less  sober 
and  more  sensuous  ritual,  but  it  would  be  an  ill- 
advised  policy  that  would  seek  to  win  the  thought- 
less at  the  risk  of  losing  better  men.  And.  besides, 
"We  cannot,  without  the  sacrifice  of  truth,  entirely 
satisfy  a  certain  class  of  people — the  spectacle-gazers 
and  theatre-goers,  who  would  rather  see  than  hear; 
who  would  find  the  Sermon  on  the  Mount  tame  and 
spiritless,  and  yet  be  enraptured  by  a  blaze  of 
tapers." 

"Say  w'hat  we  will,"  he  went  on,  "of  the  import- 
ance of  suitable  forms — and  their  importance  when 
recognized  only  as  forms  cannot  easily  be  over-esti- 
mated— yet  the  history  of  the  Church  has  proved 

218 


A  CONTROVERSIALIST 

that  there  has  not  always  been  the  most  healthful 
life  where  there  has  been  the  largest  access  of  ritual- 
istic observance.  The  outward  and  visible,  although 
necessary  to  embody  and  preserve  the  inward  and 
spiritual,  may  remain  when  the  inward  and  spiritual 
has  vanished — as  the  corpse  from  which  the  vital 
spark  has  fled.  When  was  it  that  the  Church 
achieved  her  most  splendid  triumphs — that  her  hosts 
militant  wrought  righteousness,  subdued  kingdoms, 
and  brought  the  nations  of  the  earth  under  the  do- 
minion of  Christ  ?  Was  it  not  when  her  Bishops  did 
the  deeds  of  Apostles — when  her  Priests  were 
clothed  with  righteousness  and  her  saints  sang  with 
joyfulness — when  the  people  first  gave  themselves 
unto  the  Lord,  and  then  kept  back  nothing  from 
him  that  could  tend  to  his  glory  and  to  the  extension 
of  his  kingdom?" 

Much  to  the  Bishop's  disappointment  the  General 
Convention  of  1868  declined  to  indicate  the  bound- 
aries of  ritual,  and  the  Bishop  himself  began  to  take 
order  to  prevent  unreasonable  diversity  of  use  in 
Alabama.  In  1871  he  set  forth,  in  a  pastoral  Letter 
read  in  Council,  an  elaborate  and  minute  directory 
of  public  worship.  In  this  Pastoral  he  disclaimed 
intention  to  go  beyond,  or  to  fall  short  of,  the  plain 
intent  of  the  rubrics,  for  he  had  no  individual  views 
to  present  beyond  the  limits  of  a  just  moderation, 
and  the  commonly  received  customs  of  the  Church. 
There  was  in  Alabama,  he  said,  ''no  cause  for  diver- 
sity of  thought  or  practice  save  that  which  may  arise 
from  ignorance,  or  inadvertence,  or  diversity  of 
taste."     Conservative  though  the  Pastoral  was,  and 

219 


RICHARD  HOOKER  WILMER 

insisting  only  on  what  are  the  well-nigh  universal 
customs  of  the  American  Church  to-day,  it  was  so 
different  in  content  and  manner  from  all  other  of  his 
Pastorals  that  the  Bishop  felt  called  upon  to  explain 
why  he  had  issued  it.  He  could  always  give  a  reason 
for  what  he  did,  and  this  reason  was  a  good  one : 

"Let  it  not  he  supposed  for  a  moment,"  he  said, 
"that  due  attention  to  the  mode  of  worship  has  any 
tendency  to  keep  before  the  mind  the  manner  of  the 
doing,  and  to  withdraw  it  from  consideration  of  the 
thing  done.  Quite  the  contrary.  If  there  be  one 
thing  more  than  another  which  has  led  to  the  Ritual- 
istic excesses  which  here  and  there  have  been  com- 
plained of.  it  is  the  slovenly,  indecorous,  and  irrever- 
ent manner  of  worship  which  was,  alas,  so  common 
in  our  midst  and  around  us.  No;  the  effect  of  a  due 
attention  to  such  matters  is  to  produce  such  an  or- 
derly, uniform,  and  reverent  demeanor,  as  shall  dis- 
nu'ss  from  the  devout  mind  all  thought  of  the  manner 
of  the  doing,  and  set  heart  and  mind  free  for  the 
solemn  engagements  of  meditation,  praise,  and 
prayer.  And  it  is  because  the  settled  habit  leads  to 
the  unconscious  performance,  and  because  the  un- 
conscious alone  is  the  perfect,  that  I  would  have  you 
in  all  things  know  how  to  demean  yourselves  in 
God's  Holy  Presence. 

"It  is  not  the  regular,  well-trained  soldier  who 
thinks  most  of  the  manner  of  his  going.  It  is  the 
militia-man,  who,  by  his  awkwardness  and  slovenli- 
ness, is  perpetually  thinking  and  reminding  others 
of  himself  and  his  movements.  And  as  no  soldier 
ever  fought  the  worse  for  being  perfect  in  the  drill, 

220 


A  CONTROVERSIALIST 

nor  loved  his  country  less  because  he  observed  close- 
ly the  ritual  of  the  army;  so,  no  Christian  soldier 
ever  fought  the  battle  of  life  less  bravely,  nor  loved 
his  great  Captain  less  warmly,  because  he  sought 
ever  to  keep  his  armor  bright  and  his  step  true  in  the 
ranks.  There  may  be  a  devotion  which  begins  and 
ends  in  attention  to  the  drill,  as  there  are  men  who 
are  never  in  the  ranks  except  at  dress  parade.  Of 
this  there  can  be  no  question,  and  a  sorry  thing  it  is. 
It  is  an  evil,  however,  which  grows  out  of  human 
frailty  and  hollowness.  But  its  remedy  must  not 
be  sought  in  slovenliness  and  negligence,  for  these 
can  never  be  made  the  handmaids  of  devotion. 

"  *  *  *  When  I  have  witnessed  the  care  and  pains 
and  discipline  which  they  bestow  upon  themselves 
who  cater  for  the  applause  of  the  multitude  and  min- 
ister to  its  entertainment,  and  then  contrast  there- 
with the  frequent  mistakes  in  miscalled  and  omitted 
words,  the  slovenly  manner  and  dress,  the  half-pre- 
pared discourses  which  are  not  infrequently  com- 
plained of  in  the  clergy,  I  have  felt  a  degree  of  mor- 
tification for  myself  as  well  as  for  them,  to  which  I 
can  give  no  adequate  expression. 

"We  are  the  educators  of  the  people  in  things  per- 
taining to  God.  That  is  our  business.  Let  us  study 
to  show  ourselves  in  all  things  approved  unto  God; 
and  we  may  be  well  assured  that  nothing  is  beneath 
our  attention  and  pains  which  serves  to  promote  the 
most  beautiful,  decorous,  and  perfect  worship  of  the 
Sanctuary." 

The  Directory  of  Worship,  to  which  the  Bishop 
had  added  these  words,  commended    itself    to    the 

221 


RICHARD  HOOKER  WILMER 

bishops  of  the  Southern  Church,  and  at  a  conference 
held  at  Sewanee  in  the  following  July  it  was  the 
unanimous  determination  of  all  the  bishops  present 
that  with  a  few  minor  changes  to  which  \Vilmer 
readily  consented  his  suggestions  should  be  adopted 
as  the  Godly  counsel  and  admonition  of  the  bishops 
to  their  respective  dioceses.  A  committee  was  ap- 
pointed to  carry  the  resolutions  of  the  bishops  into 
effect,  but  summer  was  upon  them  and  they  post- 
poned action  until  the  fall.  By  the  time  the  com- 
mittee was  able  to  get  together  in  the  fall  the  ses- 
.^ions  of  the  General  Convention  were  close  at  hand 
and  it  was  deemed  better  not  to  anticipate  the  possi- 
ble action  of  that  body.  Without  further  formal- 
ity, however,  the  clergy  of  the  South  one  by  one 
adopted  the  ritual  of  Bishop  Wilmer. 

The  General  Convention  did  not  do  what  the 
Bishop  expected  it  to  do.  In  its  refusal  to  pass  pro- 
hibitory laws  he  was  well  pleased,  because  he  felt 
that  the  wit  of  man  could  never  catalogue  a  sufficient 
number  of  things  prohibited  to  cover  every  possible 
violation  of  law,  and  that  to  prohibit  a  few  things  was 
to  give  legal  standing  to  things  not  prohibited.  But 
in  its  refusal  to  establish  a  positive  law  of  ritual,  pre- 
scribing with  exactness  what  the  officiating  minister 
might  do  and  should  do,  and  l^eyond  which  he  might 
not  lawfully  go.  he  was  disappointed.  He  could  not 
see  the  wisdom  of  declaring  that  separate  Churche<= 
have  authority  to  prescribe  rites  and  ceremonies  and 
then  of  refusing  both  to  prescribe  and  interpret 
them.  "We  keep,  in  some  respects,"  he  exclaimed, 
"not  so  much  a  childlike,  as  a  servile,  relation  to  the 

222 


A  CONTROVERSIALIST 

Mother  Church,  *  *  *  wearing  voluntarily  the  chains 
from  which  she  herself  emancipated  us,  and  would 
fain  herself  be  free." 

But  nothing  was  hurt  by  the  Convention's  failure 
to  legislate  on  the  subject  of  ritual.     In  most  cases 
a  temperate  discussion  and  a  little  more  enlighten- 
ment were  the  only  things  necessary  to  bring  about 
the  substantial  uniformity  of  worship  that  character- 
izes the  vast  body  of  the  Church  to-day.     In  Ala- 
bama the  Bishop's  personal  influence  was  so  great 
that  the  mere  expression  of  a  wish    on    his    part 
brought  about  such  change  as  he  desired.     The  or- 
der of  service  was  well-nigh  identical  in  all  the  par- 
ishes of  the  Diocese — simple,  unornate,  but  dignified 
and  impressive.     As  much  could  not  always  be  said 
about  the  layman's  part  in  the  services.     Ten  years 
later  the  Bishop  was  not  satisfied  with  the  behavior 
of    some    congregations    and    of    some    persons    in 
every    congregation.     He    spent    several    weeks    as 
the  guest  of  Dr.  Peter  Bryce,  the  eminent  Superin- 
tendent of  the  Alabama  Insane  Hospital,  a  man  whose 
name  the  State  has  since  honored  by  incorporating 
it  in  the  official  title  of  the  institution.      Her  daily 
services  were  said  for  several  hundred  of  the  inmates, 
and  every  morning  the  Bishop  would  speak  a  few 
words  of  counsel  and  hope,  of  sympathy  and  instruc- 
tion.   To  his  next  Council  he  gave  his  impressions  of 
these  services:     'The  only  difference  perceptible  to 
me  between  an  assembly  of  such  persons  and  that  of 
a  promiscuous  gathering  of  those  who  pass  for  sane 
people  was,  that  the  inmates  of  the  Asylum  were  a 
little  more  reverent  and  well  behaved." 

223 


RICHARD  HOOKER  WILMER 

The  struggle  that  was  going  on  through  these 
years  between  the  Bishop's  natural  tendency  towards 
conservatism  and  his  intellectual  perception  of  the 
reasonableness  of  change  in  non-essentials  to  meet 
changed  conditions  is  nowhere  more  clearly  manifest 
than  in  his  discussion  of  the  revision  of  the  Book  of 
Common  Prayer.  Although  this  revision  was  not 
concluded  until  1892  it  had  been  agitated  in  1853, 
renewed  in  1856,  and  brought  up  in  one  shape  or 
another  for  twenty  years.  Not  until  1880  was  the 
revision  determined  upon,  and  even  then  revision 
must  content  itself  with  ''enrichment"  and 
"flexibility  of  use;"  doctrine  must  not  be  touched. 
Up  to  this  time  revision  of  the  Book  was,  in  the 
minds  of  many,  bound  up  with  revision  of  doctrine. 
It  was  to  revision  in  this  connection  that  Bishop  Wil- 
mer  addressed  himself  in  his  Council  address  of  1874. 

He  confessed  at  the  outset  that  to  him  the  Book 
of  Common  Prayer,  as  it  then  stood,  had  no  fault, 
but  was,  like  the  King's  daughter,  all  glorious  within; 
and  that  merely  to  contemplate  the  thought  of 
revising  the  Book  did  violence  to  his  every  instinct 
of  reverence.  He  confessed,  moreover,  to  a  sinking 
of  the  heart  when  he  contemplated  the  undertaking 
of  such  a  task  in  this  new  world  "where  learning  is 
superficial,  piety  dwarfed,  and  only  our  native  con- 
ceit— like  primeval  forests — fully  grown."  Yet  he 
recalled  the  fact  that  it  was  only  through  repeated 
revisions  that  the  Book  had  attained  its  seeming  per- 
fection, and  that  it  would  be  perfectly  proper  to  sub- 
ject it  to  a  new  revision  should  it  be  shown  that  such 
a  revision  was  necessary.    This  necessity  was  not  yet 

224 


A  CONTROVERSIALIST 

patent.  It  was  true  that  there  were  good  men  m 
the  Church  who  could  not  conscientiously  use  the 
Prayer  Book.  But  was  their  criticism  legitimate? 
Was  it  not  possible  that  the  fault  lay  in  the  objectors' 
own  mind,  in  the  lack  of  good  early  training,  in  the 
force  of  remaining  prejudice?  It  was,  at  least,  a 
proper  question,  if  revision  was  to  be  pressed  on  this 
ground,  whether  it  were  not  more  sensible  for  the 
complainants  to  revise  their  own  views  to  suit  the 
standard  than  to  revise  the  standard  to  meet  their 
views.  When  clergymen,  however,  good  they  might 
be,  were  unwilling  to  minister  the  doctrine  of  Christ 
as  this  Church  had  received  the  same — a  doctrine 
enshrined  in  the  Prayer  Book,  a  ministration  vowed 
at  their  ordination — it  was  at  least  as  fair  to  infer 
some  defect  in  their  theological  training  as  to  impute 
the  fault  to  the  doctrinal  expressions  of  the  Prayer 
Book.  The  doctrines  of  Regeneration  in  Baptism 
and  the  Real  Presence  in  the  Holy  Communion  were 
the  doctrines  that  disturbed  men  so  much — the  old 
questions,  "How  can  a  man  be  born  again?"  and 
"How  can  this  man  give  us  his  flesh  to  eat?" — and  to 
consideration  of  these  doctrines  did  the  Bishop  ad- 
dress himself,  concluding  with  this  expression  of 
opinion : 

"As  it  regards  the  question  of  the  virtue  of  the 
Sacraments,  and  their  mode  of  operation,  we  have 
some  extremists  in  both  directions,  but  they  are  very 
few  indeed.  There  may  be  differences  of  opinion 
among  the  large  mass  of  our  clergy,  but  they  are  not 
vital  differences — in  many  cases  a  mere  strife  about 
words.     The  sound  and  moderate  minds  among  us — 


RICHARD  HOOKER  WILMER 

and  they  constitute  by  far  the  great  mass — are  much 
nearer  together  in  opinion  than  they  themselves 
sometimes  think  and  are  wilhng  to  allow.  The  one 
party  lays  greater  apparent  stress  upon  the  grace  of 
the  Sacrament — the  other  upon  the  condition  of  the 
recipient.  Is  there  not  a  part  of  the  truth  for  which 
each  is  contending,  and  may  it  not  be  that  in  this 
way  the  whole  truth  is  conserved?  The  history  of 
religious  controversy  is  full  of  similar  illustrations, 
and  it  will  be  found,  upon  a  comprehensive  view  of 
the  history  of  Doctrine,  that  the  whole  body  of  truth 
has  been  usually,  if  not  always,  thus  maintained;  by 
each  mind  setting  forth  and  keeping  in  view  the  par- 
ticular side  of  truth  which  it  sees  most  clearly.  *  * 
And  as  it  regards  the  matter  of  Ritual:  If  we  leave 
out  the  extreme  manifestations  of  a  very  few  men, 
the  question  reduces  itself  very  much  to  a  question 
of  esthetics,  upon  which  the  best  men  will  differ  and 
should  not  wrangle." 

But  the  Bishop  was  not  generally  indifferent  to 
doctrine  and  ritual,  nor  did  he  refer  all  differences 
to  esthetics  and  logomachy.  That  he  viewed  ex- 
tremists with  little  complacency  is  evident  from  some 
language  used  by  him  in  1875,  when  the  rejection  by 
the  General  Church  of  Drs.  DeKoven  and  Seymour 
was  still  fresh  in  men's  minds,  and  the  application  of 
the  words  to  them  could  not  be  doubted.  The  in- 
stitution of  the  office  of  Bishop,  he  said,  "was  for  the 
edifying  of  the  body  of  Christ,  and  not  for  the  eleva- 
tion or  glorification  of  any  man.  *  *  *  jj^ 
looking  back  upon  the  action  of  this  Church  for 
the   last   few  years,   one   thing    in  her   temper  and 

226 


A  CONTROVERSIALIST 

disposition  is  unmistakable :  That  whilst  wisely  and 
necessarily  tolerant  of  a  wide  latitude  of  opinion  and 
usage  on  the  part  of  her  clergy  and  laity,  she  is  not 
disposed  to  confer  her  highest  office  upon  men  of 
avowed  or  suspected  extreme  views — that,  in  her 
judgment,  it  is  one  thing  to  tolerate  a  man,  and  quite 
another  to  endorse  him  and  prefer  him  to  honor. 
And  who  would  have  it  otherwise  ?  We  want  no  par- 
tisan bishops  in  the  councils  or  administration  of  this 
Church.  We  must  need  have  extreme  opinions,  as 
every  field  must  have  its  outside  rows.  But  the  hus- 
bandman does  not  select  his  seed-grain  from  the  out- 
side rows,  but  from  the  middle  of  the  field,  where  the 
ears  are  more  perfectly  formed  and  completely  filled. 

"And  the  Bishops  are  the  seed-grain  of  the 
Church." 

The  Bishop  was  not  partisan  in  this  position,  for 
he  applied  it  impartially  to  the  case  of  every  bishop- 
elect,  and  voted  for  or  against  his  consecration 
irrespectively  of  his  personal  friendship  and  admira- 
tion for  some  on  whose  election  he  was  to  pass. 
Many  years  later  his  application  of  this  principle  led 
him  to  vote  against  the  confirmation  of  the  election 
of  Phillips  Brooks  as  Bishop  of  Massachusetts. 

It  had  been  a  strong  desire  for  Church  Unity  that 
caused  the  Bishop  to  go  to  England  in  1867  in  the 
hope  of  getting  a  pronouncement  on  the  subject  from 
the  English-speaking  bishops  at  their  first  meeting. 
For  several  years  thereafter  Christian  unity  was  a 
subject  uppermost  in  the  Bishop's  thoughts.  But 
regard  for  the  proportion  of  the  faith  led  him  to  issue 
a  Pastoral  in  which  cogent  reasons  were  given  for 

227 


RICHARD  HOOKER  WILMER 

the  Church's  refusal  to  join  in  union  prayer-meetings, 
revivals,  and  the  like,  and  to  make  strong  defence  of 
the  Church's  alleged  lack  of  liberality  and  Christian 
charity  in  dealing  with  the  bodies  of  Christians  that 
formed  the  bulk  of  society.  This  Pastoral  was  based 
on  St.  Paul's  afifirmation,  "Charity  rejoiceth  in  the 
truth."  After  drawing  the  clear  distinction  between 
sincerity  and  truth,  he  proceeded  to  show  that  the 
charity  which  is  bound  to  truth  cannot,  because  it  is 
charity,  vent  it.self  in  harsh  judgments  and  evil  speak- 
ings, and  will  not,  because  it  rejoices  in  truth,  sup- 
press convictions  and  become  coldly  indifferent  to 
important  distinctions,  for  the  sake  of  peace  and 
quiet.  But  it  will  speak  the  truth  in  love,  rejoicing 
in  what  truth  is  already  held  by  others  rather  than 
resting  in  condemnation  of  what  errors  have  not 
been  thrown  aside,  and  inviting  to  common  worship 
and  ministration  that  all  the  truth  may  be  embraced. 
It  will  not  refrain  from  this  exhortation  for  fear  of 
being  scoffed  at  as  claiming  superior  sanctity.  It  will 
decline  to  say  to  others,  "You  are  right,  and  I  am 
right;  and  though  we  hold  contradictory  views  both 
of  us  are  right."  Of  course  this  position  is  called  "un- 
charitable." But,  said  the  Bishop,  "we  cannot  ask 
the  men  of  the  world  to  interpret  for  us  the  law  of 
Christian  charity.  They  cannot  be  our  judges  in  this 
matter.  To  them  the  varying  and  conflicting  opin- 
ions of  Christian  people — even  when  they  concern 
such  questions  as  the  nature  and  origin  of  ministerial 
authority,  yes,  even  the  nature  and  office  of  Christ 
himself — are  of  less  consequence  than  the  petty  and 
transient  political  issues  of  the  hour.     We   should 

228 


A  CONTROVERSIALIST 

have  no  aspirations  for  the  reputation  of  that  charity 
which  means  indifference,  nor  should  we  dread  the 
imputation  of  bigotry,  when  it  means  a  deep  devo- 
tion to,  and  joy  in,  the  truth.  King  Solomon,  the 
wise,  discovered  the  true  mother  of  the  child  by  pre- 
paring to  divide  and  mutilate  it.  The  false  mother 
was  willing  to  compromise  in  any  way.  It  requires 
not  the  wisdom  of  Solomon  to  determine  that  he 
who  will  be  satisfied  with  the  truth  divided  and  mu- 
tilated is  not  nearly  related  to,  nor  rejoiceth  in,  the 
truth.  *  *  * 

"Temporary  unions  for  prayers  and  exhortations 
cannot  solve  the  problem.  I  fear  they  rather  hinder 
and  postpone  it.  It  is  a  confession  of  something 
wrong,  and  yet  not  a  full  and  frank  confession.  It 
presents  a  palliative,  where  a  cure  is  needed.  It 
satisfies  the  mind  with  something  infinitely  short  of 
Christian  duty  and  privilege.  It  patches  up  a  serious 
breach  with  a  hollow  truce.  *  *  *  Yet  there  is  some- 
thing very  captivating  in  the  thought  of  such  a  truce 
to  hostilities.  *  *  * 

'Tt  is  alleged  that  Christian  charity  demands  such 
unions  and  compromises,  and  that  they  who  fall  not 
in  with  the  proposed  method  are  sadly  lacking  in 
that  exalted  virtue.  It  is  urged  'that  for  a  little  while, 
and  in  order  to  effect  a  specific  good,  Christian  peo- 
ple ought  to  drop  their  peculiarities,  and  come  to- 
gether in  worship  and  fellowship.'  If  this  be  true, 
ought  they  not  for  a  stronger  reason  to  do  this,  viz., 
in  order  to  promote  general  and  permanent  good? 
This  must  be  so,  unless  a  particular  and  transient 
good  is  more  desirable  than  an  enduring  and  general 

229 


RICHARD  HOOKER  WILMER 

good;  or  unless  it  can  be  shown  that  the  good  sought 

is  to  be  found  in  only  occasionally  letting  down  the 

denominational     fences,  and  feeding  in  a    common 

pasture.      And  if,  for  the  sake  of  a  temporary  good, 

there  be  any  peculiarity  which  one  can  properly  lay 

aside  for  an  hour,  a  day,  a  week,  what  hinders  but 

that  for  the  sake  of  a  continued  and  greater  good, 

he  may  not  lay  it  aside  for  a  month,  a  year,  forever ! 
*  *  * 

"But  if  it  be  alleged,  as  it  is,  'that  it  is  not  a  mere 
peculiarity  that  is  laid  aside,  but  a  principle,  which 
cannot  be  given  up.  but  only  held  in  abeyance,  for  a 
little  while,  in  order  to  impress  a  community,  and  to 
prevail  with  God  by  united  prayer' — what  then?  Is 
not  this  a  spectacle? — a  multitude  of  Ministers  of 
God — witnesses  for  truth  and  principle — coming  to- 
gether and  combining  to  suppress,  each  for  himself, 
a  part  of  God's  truth,  and  for  God's  sake,  as  is 
alleged,  and  that  on  the  ground  that  God  has 
revealed  unimportant  truth  !  What  a  spectacle  in  the 
sight  of  Heaven !  It  may,  possibly,  for  a  while  im- 
pose upon  the  multitude,  for  they  are  easily  deceived 
by  any  superficial  and  sensational  movement  that  is 
popularized  to  the  public  ear.  But  how  can  it  be 
justified  in  the  sight  of  God — this  holding  fast  and 
loose  by  certain  truths?  It  is  these  very  truths  and 
principles,  so  called,  which  they  are  willing  to  ignore 
at  times,  that  constitute  the  bases  severally  of  the 
denominational  bodies.  The  unity  of  the  Church  of 
God  was  broken  that  these  bases  of  organizations 
might  be  maintained;  and  yet,  for  any  particular 
purpose,  they  may  be  suppressed !     Is  this,  indeed. 

230 


A  CONTROVERSIALIST 

of  the  nature  of  charity,  whose  essence  is  supreme 
love  to  God  and  veneration  for  His  Truth?  *  *  * 

"Not  only  the  attitude  of  this  Church  to-day 
towards  all  these  popular  union  movements  is  not  un- 
charitable, but,  on  the  contrary,  the  highest  and  most 
far-reaching  charity  demands  i;s  to  maintain  the  posi- 
tion which  we  occupy.  We  are  set  for  the  main- 
tenance of  a  great  truth.  Our  numbers  are  not 
great — and  the  raillery  which  amuses  itself  with  our 
want  of  numbers,  as  if  truth  and  right  were  to  be 
determined  by  a  plurality  of  votes,  is  altogether  out 
of  place,  both  impertinent  and  irrelevant — but  our 
position  is  one  of  incalculable  importance.  We  hold 
to  that  which  'was  always,  is  now,  and  ever  shall  be,' 
Were  we  to  abandon  it,  or  compromise  it,  we  should 
surrender  the  point  round  which  Christendom  must 
at  last  rally.  *  *  *  Not  uncharitably,  but  most 
charitably,  this  Church  utters  her  protest  against 
all  new  dogmas — come  they  whence  they  may — 
and  invites  all  Christian  people  to  walk  in 
the  ancient  path  of  primitive  truth  and  Apostolic 
order.  It  is  this  her  position  that  compels 
her  to  stand  aloof  from  all  abortive  and  delusive 
compromises — not  from  a  spirit  of  separatism,  nor 
in  a  spirit  of  unsympathizing  indifference,  God  for- 
bid, but  with  the  purpose  to  hold  the  ancient  truth 
as  settled  and  received  from  Holy  Scriptures,  and 
thus  to  furnish  the  only  possible  center  of  peace  and 
union  for  all  Christian  people. 

"In  this  her  Charity  rejoiceth,  yea,  and  will 
rejoice." 


231 


CHAPTER  XII 

THE  BISHOP  AND  THE  NEGRO 

111  1883  the  subject  of  the  evangeHzation  of  the 
Negro  assumed  a  prominent  place  in  the  mind  of  the 
Church. 

For  many  years  the  Church's  old-time  influence 
among  this  race  had  been  waning,  and  in  several  dio- 
ceses the  Negro  churches  were  practically  extinct, 
The  precipitate  action  of  the  General  Convention  of 
1865  in  committing  all  religious  instruction  of  the 
Negro  to  the  "Protestant  Episcopal  Frcedmen's 
Commission"  was  largely  responsible  for  this  deca- 
dence of  the  work.  It  was  felt  by  Southern  bishops 
that  this  step,  schismatic  in  nature,  was  taken  in  dis- 
trust of  themselves,  and  they  would  have  none  of  it. 
They  took  the  ground  that  the  Bishop  of  a  diocese 
is  charged  with  the  selection  of  instrumentalities,  and 
that  while  they  were  willing  to  receive  subordinate 
help,  they  would  recognize  no  co-ordinate  authority. 
Assistance  on  these  terms  was  not  forthcoming,  and 
Bishop  Wilmer,  at  least,  stood  still. 

He  would  have  been  compelled  to  stand  still  even 
if  he  had  not  chosen  to  do  so.  With  the  newly  and 
violently  acquired  freedom  of  the  Negro,  there  had 
come  to  him  impatience  and  temporary  distrust  of 
those  who  alone  knew  him  well  enough  to  be  able  to 

232 


THE  BISHOP  AND  THE  NEGRO 

benefit  him  permanently.  The  former  slaves  were 
puffed  up  by  the  harangues  of  demagogues,  who  used 
them  as  ladders  by  which  to  enter  the  State  Treas- 
ury and  the  National  Congress,  and  they  became 
possessed  of  a  conceit  that  misconstrued  every  effort 
in  their  behalf  as  a  tribute  to  their  importance.  They 
would  take  neither  their  politics  nor  their  religion 
from  their  former  owners.  Northern  carpet-baggers 
and  renegade  Alabamaians  initiated  them  into  the 
mysteries  of  political  economy.  Preachers  of  their 
own  color  made  broad  for  them  the  strait  and  narrow 
way.  Preachers  of  the  white  race,  their  former 
trusted  friends,  were  treated  with  that  disingenuous- 
ness  which  has  generally  characterized  the  response 
of  the  Freedman  to  the  approach  of  the  Caucasian. 
While  the  Northern  press  was  charging  the  South- 
ern bishops  with  inertness  and  indifference  to  Negro 
missions  and  was  picturing  the  Negro  as  looking  up 
hungrily  to  the  shepherds  for  food  while  the 
shepherds  were  repelling  them  from  the  church 
doors,  within  whose  portals  was  abundance  of  bread, 
the  fact  was  that  the  Negro  was  waving  off  the 
Bishop  and  with  great  unanimity  was  cutting  off 
every  avenue  of  approach  from  the  white  clergy. 

When  we  recall  the  political  influences  that  played 
about  him,  and  the  hero-worship  with  which  he  was 
greeted  by  those  who  came  in  casual  touch  with  him, 
this  altered  attitude  of  the  Negro  was  perfectly 
natural.  But  however  natural  it  was  an  attitude  of 
such  nature  as  to  compel  his  would-be  benefactors  to 
withhold  their  hands  until  the  fever  should  cool  and 
reason  return. 

233 


RICHARD  HOOKER  WILMER 

The  outcome  is  a  familiar  story.  Social  equality 
was  a  will-o'-the-wisp.  Political  superiority  was 
soon  wrested  from  the  usurping  hands.  Legislation 
as  a  bread-winning  occupation  gave  way  to  labor  in 
the  sweat  of  the  face.  Whether  he  would  or  not, 
the  ex-slave  was  forced  to  turn  to  his  former  master 
and  follow  him,  if  not  from  love,  at  least  because  of 
the  loaves  and  fishes. 

When  this  came  about  it  was  at  last  possible  to 
undertake  the  preaching  of  the  Gospel  to  him,  and 
Bishop  Wilmer  was  one  of  the  first  to  make  the  at- 
tempt. At  the  outset  he  had  clearly  in  mind  a  truth, 
a  prevision,  that  many  have  not  been  able  to  grasp, 
even  yet :  That  these  people  would  not  come  into 
the  Church  in  any  great  numbers.  It  was  his  con- 
viction that  few  would  come  at  first,  the  few  that 
loved  the  order  and  reverence  that  characterize  the 
Church.  He  felt  that  for  a  long  time  these  would 
be  a  very  small  fragment  of  the  mass,  but  that  as  they 
were  elevated  by  education  they  would  become  cen- 
ters of  good  inlkience  and  would,  like  salt,  help 
season  the  race.  This,  however,  was  to  be  a  work 
of  time  and  patience,  as  well  as  a  labor  of  love.  The 
Church's  inlluence  was  for  a  long  while  to  be  of  such 
kind  among  the  blacks  as  it  had  been  among  the 
whites — out  of  all  proportion  to  the  number  of  ad- 
herents, and  a  standard  for  even  those  who  were 
unconscious  of  her  claims. 

With  this  avowed  limit  of  hope  he  was  willing  to 
undertake  the  work  on  a  small  scale  and  was  content 
to  see  small  numerical  gains.  In  1882  he  brought 
the  matter  formally  before  his  Council.      He  found 

234 


THE  BISHOP  AND  THE  NEGRO 

an  able  coadjutor  in  the  Rev.  J.  S.  Johnston,  then 
rector  of  Trinity  Church,  Mobile,  and  now  Bishop 
of  West  Texas,  who  as  chairman  of  the  committee 
to  whom  was  referred  this  portion  of  the  Bishop's 
address,  made  a  vigorous  report,  outlining  the  steps 
necessary  in  leading  the  Negro  to  true  and  accept- 
able worship  of  God.  Premising  that  worship  neces- 
sitates intelligence,  he  insisted  that  no  lasting  work 
could  be  done  that  did  not  seek  along  with  religious 
instruction  the  co-ordinate  development  of  mind 
and  body. 

The  Bishop's  recommendation,  and  the  adoption 
of  this  report  by  the  Council,  obtained  considerable 
currency  in  the  North,  and  funds  were  shortly  forth- 
coming, to  the  amount  of  six  thousand  dollars,  for 
the  purchase  of  ground  and  the  erection  of  a  church, 
-rectory,  and  school-house.  A  Negro  man  was  ap- 
pointed lay-reader  and  services  were  begun.  At 
the  end  of  a  year,  through  the  fostering  care  of  the 
Bishop  and  the  immediate  supervision  of  ]\Ir.  John- 
ston, there  were  fourteen  communicants,  six  candi- 
dates for  confirmation,  a  day-school  of  thirty-nine 
pupils,  and  a  Sunday  school  of  one  hundred.  It  is 
not  the  purpose  of  this  record  to  go  further  into  this 
work  than  to  say  that  it  has  been  developing  slowly 
through  the  subsequent  years  and  stands  to-day  for 
what  the  Bishop  originally  intended  it— its  one  hun- 
dred communicants  a  little  leaven  in  a  Negro  popula- 
tion of  twenty  thousand.  But  the  immediate  effect 
of  the  establishment  of  this  work  was  a  recrudescence 
of  effort  throughout  the  South  and  of  editorial  arti- 
cles and  addresses  throughout  the  Church.   Bishops, 

235 


RICHARD  HOOKER  WILMER 

dioceses,  and  communities  took,  as  might  have  been 
anticipated,  most  diverse  courses. 

Early  in  the  summer  of  1883  the  Board  of 
Managers  of  General  Missions  invited  Bishop 
Wilmer  to  address  the  General  Convention,  sitting 
as  the  Board  of  Missions,  at  its  coming  session  in 
Philadelphia  in  the  following  October.  Meanwhile, 
upon  call  from  Bishop  Green  of  Mississippi,  Chan- 
cellor of  the  University  of  the  South,  a  conference 
on  the  relation  of  the  Church  to  the  Colored  People 
of  the  South  was  held  at  Sewanee  from  July  25th  to 
July  28th.  All  the  Southern  Bishops  were  in  at- 
tendance except  W'hittle  of  Virginia,  Galleher  of 
Louisiana,  and  Beckwith  of  Georgia.  It  was  a  body 
of  men  who  were  already  prominent,  or  were  after- 
wards to  become  prominent,  in  the  councils  of  the 
Church.  Among  the  clergy  were  Pike  Powers,  of 
Virginia;  C.  M.  Beckwith,  of  Georgia;  Robert,  of 
Missouri;  Porter,  of  South  Carolina;  Tidball  and 
Gray,  of  Tennessee;  Harris,  of  Mississippi;  J.  L. 
Tucker,  of  Alabama;  and  Shoup.  of  Western  Texas. 
It  took  the  Conference  four  days  to  construct  a  plat- 
form on  which  all  could  stand.  More  than  fifty 
speeches  were  made,  some  of  them  of  remarkable 
eloquence,  and  one,  by  Mr.  C.  R.  Miles,  of  South 
Carolina,  so  powerful,  that  immediately  after  its  de- 
livery the  meeting  adjourned  for  the  day  in  order  to 
regain  its  judicial  frame  of  which  the  speech  had 
robbed  it.  Utterance  was  given  to  the  most  widely 
varying  views  as  to  what  action,  if  any,  was  expe- 
dient; but  there  was  entire  unanimity  of  opinion  in 
regard  to  the  forming  of  separate  and  independent 

236 


THE  BISHOP  AND  THE  NEGRO 

organizations  for  the  black  people.  "There  can  be 
but  one  fold  and  one  chief  shepherd  for  all  the  peo- 
ple in  any  field  of  Ecclesiastical  designation,"  they 
said.  "It  is  entirely  inexpedient,  both  on  grounds 
of  Ecclesiastical  polity,  and  also  of  a  due  considera- 
tion of  ihe  interests  of  all  concerned,  to  establish  any 
separate,  independent  Ecclesiastical  organization  for 
the  colored  people  dwelling  within  the  territory  of 
our  constituted  Jurisdictions."  But  they  recom- 
mended to  the  General  Convention  a  Canon  "Of 
Missionary  Organizations  within  Constituted  Epis- 
copal Jurisdictions,"  in  which  provision  was  made  for 
a  separate  convocational  organization  of  the  Negro 
Churchmen,  under  the  presidency  of  an  Archdeacon 
or  other  appointee  of  the  Bishop,  and  for  the  com- 
plete separation  of  the  clergy  list  of  such  organiza- 
tion from  that  of  the  Diocesan  organization,  unless 
the  Diocesan  Convention  should  make  special  pro- 
vision for  their  admission  into  union  with  the  Dio- 
cesan Convention. 

Bishop  Wilmer  opposed  this  recommendation  of 
the  Conference  with  all  his  might  because  it  intro- 
duced (needlessly,  as  he  thought)  the  objectionable 
feature  of  class  legislation.  He  might  have  favored 
separation  on  the  ground  of  incapacity  and  igno- 
rance, he  said,  but  not  on  that  of  color.  He  did  not, 
indeed,  go  as  far  as  Bishop  Thompson,  who  said,  in 
the  course  of  debate,  that  in  principle  it  is  as  ridicu- 
lous to  ask  how  we  shall  reach  the  man  with  a  black 
skin  as  to  ask  how  we  shall  reach  the  man  with  red 
hair;  but  he  did  assert,  what  was  a  notorious  fact, 
that  there  were  multitudes  of  white  people  in  some 

^Z7 


RICHARD  HOOKER  WILMER 

of  our  States  who.  in  intelligence,  education,  and 
manners,  were  even  inferior  to  that  class  of  colored 
people  whe  were  prepared  to  enter  the  communion 
of  this  Church.  If  a  separate  organization  was  de- 
sired it  must  be,  he  asserted,  an  organization  for  the 
ignorant  and  unintelligent  of  all  colors. 

On  the  merits  of  the  question  considered  in  the 
abstract  there  can  be  no  doubt  that  the  Bishop's  con- 
tention was  sound.  But  it  is  a  fact  that  divisions 
on  grounds  other  than  of  ideal  right  have  existed  in 
the  Church  from  the  time  when  St.  Peter  was  set  to 
preach  to  the  Circumcision,  and  St.  Paul  to  the 
Uncircumcision.  It  is  of  the  essence  of  catholicity 
in  the  mind  of  the  Church  that  when  she  cannot  do 
her  work  in  an  ideal  way  she  will  acknowledge  the 
fact  and  do  the  best  she  can  with  possible  conditions. 
It  was  a  fact  that  Southern  men  would  have  nothing 
to  do  with  a  Church  which  allowed  an  increasing 
proportion  of  negroes  in  her  Councils.  It  was  an- 
other fact  that  the  negroes  did  not  care  for  member- 
ship in  an  organization  in  which  they  were  barely 
tolerated  and  plamly  not  wanted.  And,  in  fact,  it 
was  not  of  the  essence  of  the  Gospel  that  negroes 
should  sit  in  Council  with  white  men.  The  Sewanee 
Conference  accepted  these  facts  as  they  were,  and 
sought  to  preserve  apostolic  fellowship  of  the  negro 
through  the  episcopate  and  not  through  the  diocesan 
councils. 

So  the  resolution  was  adopted  by  an  all  but  unani- 
mous vote  of  the  bishops,  presbyters,  and  laymen 
present.  Bishop  Wilmer  stood  absolutely  alone. 
He  asked  to  be  recorded  as  being  in  cordial  sympathy 

238 


THE  BISHOP  AND  THE  NEGRO 

with  the  object  of  the  proposed  canon,  but  as  bemg 
unable  to  vote  for  it,  since,  in  his  opinion,  it  involved 
the  idea  of  class  legislation  in  the  Church  of  Christ, 
wherein  there  was  one  body  for  all  the  baptized, 
whether  Jew  or  Gentile,  whether  bond  or  free.  His 
own  position,  as  expressed  in  a  resolution  which  re- 
ceived no  support,  was  "that  it  would  be  contrary  to 
the  mind  of  Christ,  inconsistent  with  true  catholicity, 
and  detrimental  to  the  best  interests  of  all  concerned, 
to  provide  any  separate  and  independent  organiza- 
tion or  legislation  for  the  peoples  embraced  within 
the  communion  of  this  Church." 

Though  he  stood  alone  in  this  Conference,  Bishop 
Wilmer  found  that  his  position  was  that  of  the 
majority  of  the  General  Convention  which  met  in  the 
following  October;  for  the  Convention  declined  to 
enact  any  such  canon  as  the  Conference  had  recom- 
mended. 

Had  the  Bishop,  in  his  address  before  the  General 
Convention,  confined  himself  to  the  one  point  at 
issue  he  would  have  met  with  general  commenda- 
tion, at  least  for  broadness  of  vision  and  tenderness 
of  sympathy.  But  he  was  not  slow  to  express  other 
and  quite  as  positive  convictions  about  the  negro's 
incapacity  for  a  separate  ecclesiastical  organization, 
an  incapacity  of  both  body  and  headship.  "They 
cannot  do  without  our  pilotage  in  their  present  state, 
and  the  wisest  among  them  know  it;  while  the  ambi- 
tious are  willing  to  risk  all  for  their  self-advancement. 
Strange  it  is  that  men  who  would  not  risk  themselves 
in  business  and  the  arts  of  life  without  the  headship 
of  the  white  man  will  create  churches  and  ministries, 

239 


RICHARD  HOOKER  WILMER 

and  form  schemes  of  doctrine  and  discipline,  without 
the  consciousness  of  inadequacy  to  such  a  task !" 

"My  own  opportunity  of  estimating  the  suscepti- 
l)iHty  of  the  black  man  to  the  influence  of  genuine 
piety  has  been  unusually  great,"  he  declared.  "For 
many  years  I  have  ministered  to  him  on  the  planta- 
tions of  Virginia,  and  I  have  expended  no  ministerial 
labor  which  was  followed  by  more  marked  and  per- 
manent result.  But  I  gave  him  views  of  religious 
truth  which  reached  his  head,  his  heart,  and  his  life. 
*  -  *  the  Creed,  the  Lord's  Prayer,  and  the  Ten 
Commandments.  The  present  prevailing  system 
among  the  blacks,  who  have  drifted  away  from  the 
pilotage  of  their  white  brethren,  appeals  almost  ex- 
clusively to  their  emotional  and  nervous  systems — 
running  them  into  insane  paroxysms — and  there  is, 
oft-times,  but  a  single  step  down  from  a  seeming 
religious  exaltation  to  the  lowest  act  of  sensuality 
and  vice." 

What  the  Bishop  said  in  this  address  was  quoted 
and  garbled  far  and  wide.  He  published  the  entire 
address,  not  as  a  vindication  of  himself,  but  as  an 
authoritative  declaration  of  the  principles  which 
would  direct  any  work  among  the  negroes  to  which 
he  would  at  any  time  give  his  official  sanction  and 
support. 


240 


CHAPTER  XIII 

ECCLESIASTICAL    AND    DOCTRINAL    POSITIONS 

In  the  matter  of  bringing  forth  sermons  all  clergy- 
men have  their  periods  of  fruitfulness  and  periods  of 
barrenness,  their  times  of  creative  power  and  their 
times  of  dependence  upon  habit  and  momentum. 

From  1882  to  1888  Bishop  Wilmer  was  persistent 
in  his  labors  and  conscientious  in  his  visitations. 
Diocesan  readjustment  in  consequence  of  the 
development  of  the  mineral  region,  and  ecclesiastical 
growth  in  consequence  of  the  general  tendency  to 
take  a  larger  view  of  everything,  gave  an  importance 
to  Alabama  that  she  had  never  had  before;  and  the 
Bishop  was  not  slow  to  take  advantage  of  every  op- 
portunity and  to  meet  every  emergency.  But  it 
was  a  period  in  which  he  did  little  sermon  work. 
Practically  all  the  sermons  that  he  preached  within 
these  six  years  were  old  sermons. 

Of  course  his  characteristic  digressions  and  inter- 
polations were  so  numerous  that  the  manuscript 
which  he  invariably  carried  into  the  pulpit  was  often 
little  more  than  the  frame-work.  Even  the  frame- 
work was  thrown  away,  if  for  suf^cient  reason  a  dif- 
ferent line  of  thought  seemed  better  for  the  imme- 
diate occasion.  Often  in  these  old  sermons  thus 
preached  will  be  found,  half-way  through,  the  note, 

241 


RICHARD  HOOKER  WILMER 

"Stop  here,"  indicating  a  radical  curtailment,  and,  in 
effect,  a  different  sermon,  while  yet  the  manuscript 
was  unchanged. 

One  of  the  reasons  why  the  Bishop  produced  no 
new  sermons  in  this  period  was  the  feeling  that  his 
days  were  numbered.  He  was  now  sixty-six  years 
of  age,  and  the  ordinary  disabilities  of  age  w^ere  be- 
ginning to  creep  upon  him.  His  council  addresses 
and  visitation  sermons  for  a  few  years  before  had 
given  evidence  of  an  increasing  sense  of  infirmity, 
and  in  1882  he  wrote  to  a  friend  in  Berryville,  Vir- 
ginia: "I  have  been  feeling  very  poorly  for  many 
months.  My  family  and  many  friends  tell  me  I  am 
depressed.  It  may  be  so,  but  I  cannot  repress  the 
feeling  that  my  work  is  almost  done.  Having  this 
feeling,  and  not  being  able  to  do  much,  my  mind 
travels  back.  My  heart  goes  with  it.  I  gather  up 
the  memories  of  loved  ones."  For  many  years  it 
had  been  his  thought  that  he  was  visiting  a  parish, 
or  bidding  farewell  to  a  Council,  for  the  last  time: 
and  it  was  this  fixed  idea  that  gave  peculiar  power 
and  solemnity  to  a  sermon  that  he  had  written  in 
1877  and  laid  aside  for  four  years  after  preaching  it 
only  twice.  This  was  his  sermon  on  St.  John  9:  4 — 
'T  nmst  work  the  works  of  Him  that  sent  me,  while 
it  is  day:  the  night  cometh  when  no  man  can  work." 
From  1881  to  1891  it  was  his  favorite  sermon.  From 
1 88 1  to  1 89 1  he  preached  it  twenty-six  times.  Many 
of  the  sermons  preached  by  the  Bishop  about  this 
time  were  so  unsatisfactory  to  him  w^hen  he  re- 
viewed them  in  after  years  that  he  burned  them  up. 

The  founding  of  Anniston  was  the  one  feature  of 

242 


ECCLESIASTICAL  POSITIONS 

the  industrial  development  of  Alabama  that  gave  the 
Bishop  genuine  pleasure,  since  it  was  the  one  feature 
that  seemed  to  be  entirely  devoid  of  selfishness  and 
Mammon-serving.  He  has  left  on  record  a  descrip- 
tion of  labor  conditions  there,  and  the  description  is 
valuable  as  being  one  of  very  few  enthusiastic  com- 
mendations that  he  ever  set  on  paper. 

"1  have  in  my  mind's  eye,"  he  said  to  the  Council, 
"a  nook  of  land  within  the  borders  of  the  State  of 
Alabama,  just  where  the  slopes  run  into  mountains — 
a  beautiful  amphitheatre.  Beautiful  now,  but  a 
short  while  since  a  howling  wilderness.  A  ragged 
husbandry,  where  there  was  any  sign  of  human  life, 
had  done  nothing  but  deface  and  render  hideous  the 
fair  face  of  Nature.  In  the  center  rises  the  tall  and 
murky  smoke-stack  of  the  furnace,  that  very  embodi- 
ment of  tireless  energy.  The  hills  around  yield 
abundance  of  coal  and  ore  to  feed  this  voracious 
monster.  'Oxen  strong  to  labor'  have  torn  up  the 
rugged  earth  and  obliterated  the  seaming  gullies. 
Smiling  fields  of  green — grass  and  grain — replace  the 
thorns  and  briers.  On  the  swelling  slopes  nestle  the 
tasteful  dwellings  of  the  proprietors,  who  give  all 
they  have  of  skill  and  industry  to  guide  the  enter- 
prise. Rows  of  comfortable  tenements,  not  without 
flowers,  where  the  workmen  find  their  homes,  lie 
convenient  to  the  center  of  labor. 

"What  more?  What  more  is  needed?  Here  are 
the  twin  factors,  labor  and  capital,  work  and  wages. 
There  is  nothing  in  all  this:  vou  can  see  most  of  all 
this  anywhere.  But  more  than  all  this  meets  the 
eye.       Hard  by  is  the  chapel  for  worship,  and  the 

243 


RICHARD  HOOKER  WILMER 

school  for  the  instruction  of  the  Httle  ones.  The 
ground  is  laid  off  and  sites  are  selected  for  the  church 
and  rectory.  The  rector  is  at  his  post  and  guides  the 
school,  on  Sunday  telling  the  good  old  story  to  the 
people  and  their  children.  In  that  nook  of  redeemed 
Earth  is  heard  the  hum  of  busy  and  successful  in- 
dustry. There  is  no  just  complaining  in  those 
streets;  no  stint  and  no  grudging;  no  promise  to  pay 
without  fulfilment.  A  liberal  and  intelligent  policy 
guides  the  whole  movement. 

"This  unusual  outlay  for  religious  worship  and 
education  must  swallow  up  some  of  the  immediate 
profits;  I  doubt  whether  it  does  in  the  end.  Satisfied 
labor,  in  the  long  run,  must  more  than  replace  the 
outlay,  for  it  is  not  a  very  far  step  towards  the  solu- 
tion of  the  problem  of  the  day :  How  to  make  labor 
friendly  to  capital.   *  *  *  * 

"The  example  above  cited  is  in  illustration  of  the 
fact  that  the  capitalist  can  look  kindly  upon  the  in- 
terests of  his  workmen.  The  proprietors  at  Annis- 
ton  have  ever  done  this.  As  I  said  to  them  years 
ago,  'You  are  solving  for  yourselves  the  problem  of 
the  day;  ending,  I  hope,  for  yourselves  the  unnatural 
conflict.  Let  capital  seek  to  bless  the  laborer,  and 
the  laborer  will  look  kindly  upon  him  that  brings 
blessings  to  himself  and  his  household.'  " 

Besides  his  address  on  "The  Relation  of  the 
Church  to  the  Negro"  in  1884,  the  only  other  Coun- 
cil address  of  more  than  ordinary  interest  and  sig- 
nificance in  this  period  was  that  of  1886  on 
"Revivals." 

Moody  and  Sankey,  and   Bliss  and  Whittle,   the 

244 


ECCLESIASTICAL  POSITIONS 

preacher     and  the  singer  supplementing  each     the 
other's  lal^ors,  were  passing  from  city  to  city  and 
moving  the  hearts  of  men;  and  great  was  the  com- 
pany of  preachers  of  hke  methods  but  lower  attain- 
ments.     Within  the  limits  of  the  Protestant  Epis- 
copal    Church  the  "missioner"  now  so  familiar    a 
figure  in  every  village  was  beginning  to  introduce 
himself.     The  conditions  were,  the  Bishop  thought, 
of  sufficient  urgency  to  call  for  a  clear  statement  of 
possible  benefit  and  possible  injury,  both  in  accepting 
these   extraneous  agencies   and   in    rejecting  them. 
Through  his  ministerial  life  he  had  had  more  faith 
in  revivals  than  had  most  of  his  clerical  brethren. 
IMore  than  once  he  had  witnessed  their  reality  and 
their  genuine  and  abiding  good.     There  were  coun- 
terfeits, of  course,  as  of  all  good  things,  and  it  was 
of  paramount  importance  that   the   real  revival  be 
differentiated  from  the  seeming,  and  that  the  tonic 
be  not  confounded  with  the  food.     "We  cannot  put 
limits  to  the  exercise  of  divine  sovereignty,  nor  can 
we  make  the  streams  of  salvation  to  flow  along    in 
prescribed  and  ordinarily  appointed  channels.    The 
River  of  God  is  full  of  water,  and  at  times  overflows 
its  banks.      But  these  extraordinary  manifestations 
take  their  place  as  phenomenal,  and  do  not  afifect  the 
ordinary  and  established  course  of  things.     At  times 
meteors  flame  across  the  firmament,  and  meteoric 
lights   flash   out,   as   stars   shoot   madly   from    their 
spheres;  but  the  constellations  shine  on,  the  sun  and 
moon  shed  their  wonted  light,  and  the  established 
order  and  harmony  reign  in  the  worlds  above.  *  * 
Beneath  the  quiet  heavens  the  constructive  forces  of 

245 


RICHARD  HOOKER  WILMER 

Nature  and  Grace  do  their  quiet  work — as  the  forces 
of  gravitation  and  vegetation.  Not  in  the  wind, 
nor  in  the  whirhvind,  come  the  ordinary  summons 
and  aid  to  the  duties  of  Hfe.  The  Kingdom  of  God 
develops  within  one  after  the  estabHshed  order  of 
growth;  'first  the  blade,  then  the  ear,  then  the  full 
corn  in  the  ear.'  This  is  the  normal  law  of  growth, 
and  full  and  symmetrical  Christian  character  is  found 
only  among  children  trained  from  youth  in  habits  of 
piety.  But  few  are  thus  trained.  The  vast  majority 
grow  up  as  ill  w^eeds.  They  lead  a  prodigal  life,  have 
left  their  Father's  house,  and  are  wandering  in  the 
wilderness.  What  can  we  do  for  such  as  these?  The 
normal  law  of  Christian  development  cannot  be  ap- 
plied to  them.  The  majority  of  these  men  can  never 
be  reached  except  by  such  as  have  a  special  mission 
to  touch  them.  And  since  revivals  do  touch  them 
revivals  should  receive  from  us  a  prayer  for  the 
divine  blessing  upon  them,  even  while  we  deprecate 
some  of  the  machinery  used  in  them." 

So  far  went  the  Bishop  in  advocacy  of  revivals. 
Immediately  followed  the  pith  of  his  discourse,  a 
condemnation  of  the  revival  system : 

'The  stimulus  of  the  revival  system,  wdien  relied 
on  as  a  system,  and  resorted  to  as  an  antidote  to  a 
decaying  piety,  but  poorly  supplements  the  sources 
of  nutrition  which  flow  from  early  religious  nurture, 
habitual  and  reverential  worship,  commandments 
steadily  enforced,  and  Sacraments  and  Ordinances 
frequented. 

'The  use  of  stimulants,  whether  for  body  or  soul, 
has  to  be  guarded  with  a  watchful  eye.      You  may 

246 


ECCLESIASTICAL  POSITIONS 

stimulate  unduly  the  roots  of  a  young  plant,  and  it 
will  take  on  rapid  growth,  but  to  its  ultimate  injury 
and  perhaps  deformity.  It  is  nutrition  rather  than 
stimulus  that  is  needed  in  order  to  health,  strength, 
and  a  hearty  old  age. 

"This  is  the  great  evil  of  the  revival  system  where 
it  is  relied  on,  as  it  is  with  many  persons,  to  excite  to 
action  a  jaded  religious   sensibility.       It   stimulates 
when  the  enfeebled  soul  calls  for  nourishment.     In- 
stead of  entering  into  the  closet  and  shutting  the 
door  and  communing  with  the   Father;  instead  of 
sitting  at  the  feet  of  the  Blessed  Lord  and  learning, 
of  His  lowliness  and  meekness,  how  to  find  strength 
and  rest  for  their  weary  and  heavy-laden  souls;  in- 
stead of  engaging  actively  in  works  of  beneficence 
for  the  poor  and  destitute,  and  receiving  the  refresh- 
ment which  comes  to  those  who  refresh  the  souls  of 
others;  instead  of  seeking  nourishment  and  growth 
by  walking,  as  one  of  old  did,  'in  all  the  Ordinances 
and    Commandments    of   the    Lord   blameless'— re- 
course  is   too   often   had   to    the    public    gathering, 
where,  without  effort  or  sacrifice,  the  soul  is  excited 
by  startling  appeals,  sentimental  singing,  and  impas- 
sioned oratory.      There  is  thus    a    habit  of  intem- 
perance engendered,  and  there  are  those  who  rush 
to  such  excitement  as  the  drunkard  hastens  to  his 
dram.     Intemperance  is  a  widespread  and  multiform 
evil;  by  no   means  confined   to  those   who   unduly 
excite  their  minds  with  stimulating  drink. 

'Tt  is  our  duty  carefully  to  consider  the  age  in 
which  we  live  and  its  inevitable  tendencies.  The 
Christian  faith,    whilst  making  its  impression  upon 

247 


RICHARD  HOOKER  WILMER 

every  age,  is,  beyond  doubt,  impressed  by  the  pre- 
vailing spirit  of  the  times.  We  live  in  what  is  com- 
monly called  a  fast  age — an  age  in  which  great  re- 
sults are  looked  for  in  a  short  time  and  with  but  little 
labor.  The  marvellous  inventive  powers  of  the  last 
fifty  years,  in  facilitating  labor  by  machinery,  has 
contributed  to  the  same  result.  When  we  can  cross 
continents  in  a  few  hours,  bring  the  ends  of  the  earth 
together  in  a  few  seconds,  in  an  instant  of  time  pro- 
cure pictures  of  earth  and  planets,  it  is  natural 
and,  indeed,  almost  inevitable,  that  we  should  look 
quite  unconsciously  for  the  same  speedy  results  in 
matters  pertaining  to  spiritual  things. 

■■'Now-a-days,  fortune  is  to  be  amassed  in  a  few 
speculations;  knowledge  is  to  be  acquired  in  a  few 
easy  lessons;  fame  to  be  built  up  in  a  day.  Is  it  sur- 
prising that  men  should  expect  to  be  made  religious 
by  a  revival? 

"What  is  the  result?  Fortune  is  ephemeral, 
knowledge  is  superficial,  and  fame  impossible.  Is  it 
surprising  that  religion  should  be — alas!  too  often — 
a  mere  paroxysm  ?  *  *  * 

"We  must  bear  in  mind  that  it  is  not  in  conse- 
quence of  much  that  is  in  bad  taste  and  worse 
theology  that  good  may  proceed  from  such  labors, 
but  despite  these  drawbacks  and  infelicities, 
and  because  Christ  is  preached.  Therefore  it  is 
that,  whilst  we  cannot  fall  into  line  with  them,  we 
vet  do  not  dare  to  forbid  them.  Such,  it  seems  to 
me,  must  be  our  attitude  towards  all  such  modes  of 
working.  If  they  are  casting  out  devils  in  the  sacred 
name  of  Christ,  we  are  told  by  our  Lord  himself  *no* 

248 


ECCLESIASTICAL  POSITIONS 

to  forbid  them.'      But  He  does  not  tell  us  to  follow 
them." 

A  consideration  of  missions  and  missioners,  the 
Church's  counterpart  of  revivals  and  revivalists,  came 
in  natural  order  after  the  paragraphs  quoted.  The 
Bishop  did  not  oppose  them,  save  in  respect  to  the 
irregularities  of  the  "After  Meetings."  "So  long 
as  they  consist  of  extended  services  in  connection 
with  the  prescribed  order  of  Church  worship,"  he 
said,  "they  present  no  novel  feature,  nor  call  for 
conmient.  They  have  proved  eminently  useful,  es- 
pecially in  rural  districts,  where  there  is  a  lack  of 
religious  privileges.  Our  Lenten  season  affords  to 
all  our  people  large  opportunities  for  instruction  and 
devotion.  A  well  observed  Lent  never  fails  to  re- 
vive a  congregation." 

The  General  Convention  of  1886  met  in  Chicago. 
Though  he  was  in  bad  health  Bishop  Wilmer  was  in 
attendance  on  all  the  sessions,  and  added  much  to 
the  value  of  the  debates  in  the  House  of  Bishops  on 
Prayer  Book  revision  and  change  of  name. 

The  Bishop  was  strongly  opposed  to  the  revision 
of  the  Book  of  Common  Prayer,  save  in  the  one 
respect  of  flexibility  in  the  use  of  the  offices  as  they 
stood.  As  to  "enrichment  of  the  Liturgy,"  he 
doubted  the  ability  of  the  Church  to  accomplish  any 
such  work  amidst  the  lunches,  and  dinners,  and  whirl 
of  the  modern  General  Convention;  and  in  a  much 
quoted  speech  he  pubHcly  thanked  God  "that  our 
Liturgies,  Creeds,  and  Pastoral  Epistles  were  written 
before  the  days  of  General  Conventions !" 

But  since   revision   was  inevitable   he   sought   to 

249 


RICHARD  HOOKER  WILMER 

confine  it  to  the  narrowest  limits,  and  to  conform 
all  new  matter  to  the  spirit  of  the  old;  and  when 
various  propositions  touching  the  same  matter  came 
to  a  vote  he  was  always  for  that  which  carried  with 
it  the  least  change.  In  this  Convention  and  the  two 
following — the  principal  labor  of  all  three  being  to 
complete  the  work  of  revision — he  succeeded  twice 
in  persuading  the  House  of  Bishops  to  change  the 
words  of  the  Marrfage  Service  ''adorn  and  beautify" 
to  "hallow  and  sanctify;"  but  twice  the  Clerical  and 
Lay  Deputies  refused  to  concur  in  the  amendment, 
and  at  the  last  the  Bishops  surrendered — much  to  the 
disgust  of  the  Bishop  of  Alabama,  who  said  that  it 
strained  his  loyalty  to  the  Church  to  be  forced  to  use 
words  that  relegated  the  function  of  our  Lord  at  the 
wedding  in  Cana  of  Galilee  to  precisely  that  per- 
formed by  flowers  and  bridesmaids ! 

When  a  special  day  was  set  aside  for  the  Feast 
of  the  Transfiguration,  he  strenuously,  and,  in  the 
House  of  Bishops,  successfully,  opposed  August  6th 
as  the  date,  moving  as  a  substitute  that  it  be  placed 
some  time  in  the  Epiphany  Tide.  His  argument  was 
that  the  Transfiguration  was  an  Epiphany,  or  Mani- 
festation, in  the  highest  sense;  that  it  was  contrary 
to  every  law  of  association  and  congruity  to  set  it 
at  the  farthest  point  from  the  season  in  which  the 
Church  sets  forth  the  various  manifestations  of 
divine  power  in  the  Son  of  Man;  and  that  to  place 
it  at  a  time  subsequent  to  the  commemoration  of  the 
Resurrection  and  the  Ascension  Avas  to  be  guilty  of 
"a  glaring  anachronism."  The  argument  has  never 
been  controverted;  but  the  House  of  Bishops,  having 

250 


ECCLESIASTICAL  POSITIONS 

adopted  the  resolution  of  the  Bishop  of  Alabama 
three  times,  retreated  three  times  from  its  position 
in  the  interest  of  harmony  with  the  lower  House. 

The  punctuation  and  capitalization  of  the  Book  of 
Common  Prayer  according  to  the  revision  of  1892 
aroused  the  Bishop's  ire.  When  the  handsome 
memorial  copy  presented  by  a  wealthy  layman  to 
every  member  of  the  Convention  came  into  his  pos- 
session the  first  thing  he  did  with  it  was  to  sit  down, 
and,  with  pen  and  ink,  punctuate  and  capitalize  ac- 
cording to  his  own  idea.  The  typographical  mutila- 
tion of  the  Lord's  Prayer  was  especially  obnoxious 
to  him.  Heaven  was,  to  him,  a  locality,  and  he  said : 
"If  we  spell  'Mobile'  with  a  capital  'M,'  how  ridicu- 
lous it  is  to  spell  the  locality  of  the  Lord's  throne 
with  a  little  'h!'" 

In  the  matter  of  Change  of  Name  he  took  a  posi- 
tion widely  different  from  that  which  he  had  occupied 
in  1862  at  the  General  Council  of  the  Church  in  the 
Confederate  States.  Then  he  had  declared  against 
the  insertion  of  the  word  "Catholic"  in  the  title  of 
the  Church  on  the  ground  that  that  cannot  properly 
be  applied  to  the  part  which  is  applicable  only  to  the 
whole.  Now  he  suggested  as  a  proper  name,  "The 
Primitive  Catholic  Church  in  the  United  States  of 
America,"  this  designation  being,  as  he  said  de- 
scriptive, distinctive,  and  catholic.  But  he  made  this 
suggestion  only  in  case  the  name  should  be  changed. 
Though  he  himself  did  not  care  for  the  present  name 
of  the  Church,  he  opposed  any  change  so  long  as 
opposition  was  manifested  by  others  to  any  extent; 
and  he  declared  that  certain  dioceses  would  withdraw 

251 


RICHARD  HOOKER  WILMER 

from  the  General  Convention  if  the  name  endeared 
to  them  by  its  century  of  use  were  to  be  abandoned. 
In  the  sentiment  of  these  dioceses  he  shared  to  great 
extent,  but  not  so  far  as  to  be  blind  to  the  infelicity 
of  the  present  name.  "But  before  giving  my  consent 
and  vote  for  any  change,"  he  declared,  "some  con- 
ditions would  have  to  be  satisfactorily  settled.  If,  for 
example,  a  change  of  name  were  proposed  by  a  cer- 
tain class  of  men — and  the  fact  cannot  be  denied  that 
there  is  such  a  class — who  desired  to  take  away  the 
title  'Protestant,'  because  they  wished  to  favor  that 
against  which  the  protest  was  aimed,  then  I  would 
join  issue  with  them  just  there.  *  *  This  must 
first  be  settled  before  I.  for  one,  am  willing  to  argue 
seriously  the  question  of  a  change  of  name,  viz., 
That  there  is  meant  no  step  backward  from  the  prin- 
ciples of  the  'Reformation.'  And,  again,  there 
should  be  no  change  attempted  until  the  mind  and 
heart  of  the  Church  are  prepared  and  educated  for 
the  change.  This  is  supremely,  a  family  matter — a 
matter  not  to  be  carried  by  a  triumphant  majority 
over  a  reluctant  minority.  Incalculable  evil  and 
loss  would  surely  follow  from  such  a  victory." 

When  the  Bishop  turned  to  the  administration  of 
his  own  diocese  matters  of  name,  rite,  and  form 
never  long  or  very  seriously  engaged  his  at- 
tention. Shortly  after  he  had  summed  up  to  his 
own  Council  the  work  of  the  General  Convention 
he  appears  as  in  every  way  stressing  the  deeper 
realities  of  religion : 

While  on  his  summer  vacation  he  wrote  to  a 
munificent  friend  in  Alabama :  "You  must  know — for 

252 


ECCLESIASTICAL  POSITIONS 

you  are  a  man  of  intuition — that  I  have  a  deep  regard 
for  you  and  yours.  You  don't  know  how  much  you 
have  helped  me.  A  bishop  should  be  a  fountain  of 
beneficence  to  his  fellows.  You  have  the  higher 
blessedness  of  'giving,'  I  the  lower  of  'receiving.' 
Therefore,  I  strive  to  get  both  benedictions — re- 
ceiving, then  giving.  I  venerate  your  veneration  for 
your  dear  father.  Intensify  it,  and  multiply  it  ten 
thousand  fold,  and  you  will  approximate  but  faintly 
the  love  and  reverance  due  to  'Our  Father.'  You 
have  the  'natural  in  a  high  degree;  let  it  go  upward 
into  the  'spiritual,'  whereby  you  can  look  up  to  Him 
who  gave  you  your  earthly  father,  and  say  with  child- 
like trust  and  love,  'Abba,  Father.'  " 

His  sense  of  the  Fatherhood  of  God  had  become 
so  pronounced  in  these  days  that  he  could  not 
tolerate  any  preaching  that  seemed  to  ignore,  to  say 
nothing  of  antagonizing,  that  Fatherhood,  and  the 
tenderer  side  of  it,  as  the  supreme  characteristic  of 
God.  At  a  diocesan  Council  one  of  the  most  promi- 
nent, pious  and  eloquent  of  his  clergy  preached 
a  sermon  on  "the  day  of  the  wrath  of  the  Lamb,"  as 
depicted  in  the  sixth  chapter  of  Revelation.  He  had 
much  to  say  of  judgment,  retribution,  and  divine  ven- 
geance on  evil  doers,  and  the  refrain  of  paragraph 
after  paragraph  was  "the  wrath  of  the  Lamb."  It 
was  unquestionably  a  lurid  sermon.  The  Bishop  sat 
wnth  growing  sternness  of  visage  throughout  the  dis- 
course, his  sense  of  propriety  alone  forbidding  him 
either  to  interrupt  the  speaker  or  to  follow  with  a 
public  rebuke.  But  when  the  service  was  over  ar,r* 
the  of^ciating  clergymen  were  in  the  vestry  rooz 

253 


RICHARD  HOOKER  WILMER 

he  rebuked  the  preacher  in  terms  that  disclosed  no 
inconsiderable  wrath  in  himself.  He  was  proceeding" 
at  some  pains  and  some  length  to  amplify  and  em- 
phasize his  displeasure,  when  the  Rev.  Ellison  Capers, 
now  Bishop  of  South  Carolina,  attempted  in  his  char- 
acteristic way  to  alleviate  the  distress  of  the  unfor- 
tunate preacher. 

"I  think  you  are  a  little  hard  on  our  young 
brother.  Bishop,"  he  said,  as  soon  as  he  could  crowd 
in  a  kind  word.  "He  may  have  stressed  the  matter 
a  little  too  much,  but  does  not  Revelation  bear  him 
out  ?  Do  not  the  Scriptures  tell  us  that  there  is  a 
'wrath  of  the  Lamb'  and  that  it  is  a  very  real  wrath?" 

"Wrath  of  the  Lamb,  Capers?"  ejaculated  the 
Bishop,  with  unaltered  visage;  "wrath  of  the  Lamb? 
Yes,  the  Scripture  does  tell  us  of  the  wrath  of  the 
Lamb,  but  it  is  the  wrath  of  the  Lamb — of  the  Lamb, 
Capers;  while  here  is  a  man  who  is  butting  like  a 
billy-goat !" 

Not  in  the  same  spirit  but  rather  in  the  spirit  of 
Galho,  he  once  answered  a  question  put  to  him  about 
the  Episcopal  apron  and  its  proper  use:  "I  do  not 
know  why  Bishops  wear  them.  Little  boys  wear 
them  to  protect  their  clean  clothes.  Butchers  and 
waiters  wear  them  to  hide  their  dirty  clothes.  I  have 
had  neither  occasion  to  wear  them." 

About  the  same  time  he  had  to  write  to  one  of  his 
clergy  a  letter  which  showed  his  impatience  of  what 
he  could  not  but  deem  trifling  with  divine  mysteries: 

"Yours  received.  I  must  have  failed  to  convey 
my  meaning,  or  you  must  have  failed  to  catch  it.  I 
am  not  discussing  with  you  the  question  of  'Altar 

254 


ECCLESIASTICAL  POSITIONS 

Lights,'  but  I  am  impressing  upon  you  the  import- 
ance of  not  introducing  anything  that  you  are  not 
required  to  do  by  the  ritual  law  of  'this  Church'  cal- 
culated to  alienate  good  people  from  the  Church.  A 
second  reading  of  my  letter  will,  I  think,  make  ap- 
parent my  whole  animus.  You  write  that  'Altar 
Lights  have  been  received  into  this  Diocese.'  If  so, 
I  hope  that  no  confusion  and  alienation  has  resulted 
therefrom. 

"I  wish  that  more  of  the  Light  of  Heaven  might 
shme  upon  altars  and  pulpits.  It  sickens  me  to  think 
that  our  minds  can  dwell  upon  such  little  questions, 
when  the  great  questions  of  Life  and  Death  are 
pending." 

It  was  in  this  spirit  that  he  wrote  his  Council  ad- 
dress for  1888  on  "The  Words  of  Christ."  He  sup- 
posed that  representatives  of  all  the  great  Christian 
Communions  were  gathered  about  the  Lord,  asking 
Him  to  answer  certain  questions  that  were  troubling 
them  and  keeping  them  apart;  with  teachableness  of 
spirit  intent  to  catch  each  word  that  fell  from  the 
Master's  lips,  and  in  realization  of  the  Sacred 
Presence  refraining  carefully  from  giving  offence  to 
one  another  in  word,  thought,  or  deed.  He  sup- 
posed that  these  questions  were  put  to  Christ,  and 
that  He  answered  them  in  the  exact  words  that  He 
spoke  while  on  earth  in  the  flesh:  What  is  God? 
May  we  worship  any  other  ?  How  must  we  worship 
God?  What  is  the  essential  of  the  Lord's  Supper? 
How  shall  we  pray?  What  is  the  efficacy  of  prayer? 
Who  have  authority  to  rule  and  minister  in  the 
Church?  Where  are  those  who  have  departed  hence 

255 


RICHARD  HOOKER  WILMER 

in  the  Lord?  Are  there  few  that  be  saved?  Shall 
Christ  indeed  return  to  judge  the  world?  And  is 
there,  in  very  truth,  to  be  a  day  of  final  adjudication 
alike  to  the  evil  and  the  good? 

It  was  a  vast  field  that  the  Bishop  thus  essayed  to 
cover,  and  in  the  ultimate  form  which  it  took  it  was 
in  itself  a  sufficient  product  for  many  years.  Several 
thousand  copies  of  the  address  were  printed  and,  un- 
like many  Pastorals,  distributed  by  the  clergy  and 
read.  Then  for  the  sermon  which  he  preached  at 
the  opening  service  of  the  General  Convention, 
which  met  in  Baltimore  in  1892,  he  recast 
this  address,  curtailing  it  here  and  expanding 
it  there;  omitting,  for  example,  whole  paragraphs  on 
the  inability  of  science  and  of  nature  herself  to  speak 
words  of  eternal  life,  and  introducing  pregnant  after- 
thoughts such  as  these:  "The  Roman  soldiers  parted 
not  the  seamless  garment  of  Christ;  yet  will  His  peo- 
ple causelessly  rend  His  sacred  Body."  To  a  passage 
as  it  appeared  in  1888 — "The  three  Apostles  in  the 
Mount  saw  a  wondrous  glory  in  their  Master,  and 
could  tell  of  it  as  eye-witnesses.  The  nine  failed  to 
see  it,  and  could  testify  to  it  only  upon  hearsay — 
too  much  the  case  with  ourselves,  my  brethren  of 
the  Ministry," — he  added  in  1892  "The  nine,  who 
went  not  up  into  the  Mount,  could  tell  of  the  power 
of  the  Devil;  the  favored  three  could  tell  of  the  glory 
of  their  Lord." 

Bishop  Wilmer's  one  book  belongs  to  this  period. 
He  wrote  it  originally  without  thought  of  publica- 
tion, but  with  the  hope  that  after  he  had  gone  the 
way  of  all  flesh  his  children  and  his  children's  child- 

256 


ECCLESIASTICAL  POSITIONS 

ren  would  derive  pleasure  and  profit  from  knowing 
the  thoughts  of  one  whose  memory  they  cherished, 
and  who  had  lived  a  long  life  during  an  eventful 
period  of  the  country's  history.  But  the  manuscript 
was  not  allowed  to  remain  unpublished.  The  Mobile 
clergy  had  a  pleasant  custom  of  going  out  to  Spring 
Hill  one  morning  of  every  week,  and  the  reading 
of  portions  of  these  reminiscences  became  a  matter 
of  course.  So  interested  did  the  clergy  become  that 
they  united  in  a  request  to  the  Bishop  to  give  his 
reminiscences  to  the  public,  and  the  Bishop  finally 
yielded.  This  is  the  explanation  of  the  unconven- 
tional style  and  frankness  of  the  book  which  was 
published  in  1887  as  "The  Recent  Past  from  a 
Southern  Standpoint,"  and  which  rapidly  ran 
through  several  editions,  the  second  being  called 
for  within  six  months  from  the  book's  appear- 
ance. The  contents  of  the  volume  vary  widely, 
but  invariably  they  show  the  individualizing 
touch  of  the  writer.  Loyalty,  citizenship,  the  Con- 
stitution, the  Civil  War,  the  institution  of  slavery, 
ecclesiastical  differences,  are  all  treated  in  a  manner 
ingenuous  and  with  a  spirit  unexceptionable.  The 
concluding  portions  of  the  book  are  given  to  charac- 
ter sketches  of  his  father,  the  Rev.  William  H.  Wil- 
mer;  his  cousin,  J.  P.  B.  Wilmer,  Bishop  of  Louis- 
iana; his  predecessor.  Bishop  Cobbs,  "the  saint  of  the 
Southern  Church";  his  champion  and  spiritual  father. 
Bishop  Elliott  of  Georgia;  and  his  life-long  friend, 
John  Stewart  of  Brook  Hill.  Lovingly  and  rever- 
ently he  moved  among  the  graves  of  the  heroic  and 
sainted  dead.     It  was,  he  testified,  a  grateful  task  for 

257 


RICHARD  HOOKER  WILMER 

him  to  pluck  a  nettle  here,  and  plant  a  flower  in- 
stead; with  sharp  incision  to  freshen  up  some  fading 
inscription  there;  to  remove  the  moss  and  lichen  with 
which  time  was  encrusting  them  and  to  cause  the 
very  grave  stones  once  more  to  speak  aloud  the 
names  and  deeds  of  men  who  should  never  die  from 
the  hearts  and  memories  of  those  who  admire  cour- 
age and  love  holiness.  The  reception  of  the  volume, 
whose  standpoint  was  so  frankly  declared,  was  all 
that  the  writer  could  ask.  The  Northern  press  re- 
views w^ere  uniformly  of  an  appreciative  nature,  the 
honest  intention,  the  courageous  conviction,  the 
manifest  ability,  and  the  good  spirit  of  the  author  be- 
ing acknowledged. 

The  New  York  Times,  perhaps  the  most  impartial 
of  American  literary  journals,  said:  "It  is  a  good 
thing  for  both  sections  of  the  great  republic  to  have 
such  a  book  as  Bishop  Wilmer's  to  profit  by.  The 
good  Bishop  is  a  thoroughly  'unreconstructed' 
Southern  man,  and  he  w^rites  as  such.  He  defends 
and  applauds  the  course  of  the  leaders  of  the  seced- 
ing States.  He  berates  'that  fanatical,  and  at  times 
dominant,  element,  which,  having  waged  a  destruc- 
tive war  (and  for  that  it  becomes  me  to  make  no 
moan,)  and,  after  having  destroyed  our  wealth  and 
laid  waste  our  territory,  and  revolutionized  our  do- 
mestic and  political  life,  persistently  aims  at  our  hu- 
miliation, still  plies  us  wdth  ignominious  epithets, 
and,  to  use  a  vulgar  current  phrase,  still  'waves  the 
bloody  shirt.'  He  praises  Jefferson  Davis  and  his 
book,  'The  Rise  and  Fall  of  the  Southern  Confeder- 
acy,' saying  of  the  book  that  it  is  'the  ablest  and  fair- 

258 


ECCLESIASTICAL  POSITIONS 

est  exposition  of  the  question,'  and  of  the  man  that 
'he  was  a  calm,  clear-headed,  and  large-hearted  man, 
chosen  in  the  hour  of  need  for  his  known  merits  and 
on  the  strength  of  his  history,  which  was  not  obscure 
or  ignoble.'  *  *  *  The  writer's  spirit  is  genial  and 
wholesome,  and  though,  of  course,  he  is  devoted  to 
the  interests  and  welfare  of  the  church  at  whose 
altars  he  ministers,  he  displays  no  bigotry  and  no 
unwillingness  to  acknowledge  all  that  is  good  in 
those  from  whom  he  differs. "  The  Church  Eclectic 
said :  'Tt  is  good  for  us  all,  both  North  and  South,  to 
know  what  so  wise  and  holy  a  man  thinks  and  has 
to  say  about  the  great  questions  which  have  so  lately 
convulsed  our  nation.  Especially  for  our  people  at 
the  North  it  is  good  to  hear  sometimes  the  other 
side  of  these  questions  and  to  realize  how  the  wisest 
and  best  of  their  Southern  brethren  feel  about  them 
still.  No  person  and  no  party  is  ever  entirely  right, 
and  it  is  well  for  us  all  to  listen  to  those  who  differ 
from  us  and  to  learn  to  see  the  good  that  is  in  them. 
For  this  reason  the  Bishop's  book  is  commended  to 
our  clergy  and  people.  North  and  South,  in  the  be- 
lief that  they  will  be  better  citizens  and  truer  Chris- 
tians for  having  read  it."  And  the  Church  Review 
said:  "He  says  many  things  that  will  not  command 
popular  approval,  nor  can  it  be  expected  for  an  au- 
thor who  does  not  account  John  Brown  a  martyr, 
and  who  sees  in  'Uncle  Tom's  Cabin'  an  ingenious 
defence  of  the  institution  of  slavery.  *  *  *  Beyond 
controversy  Bishop  Wilmer  represents  the  true  heart 
and  mind  of  the  South,  which  while  it  holds  intellect- 
ually to  its  old  theories  is  no  less  loyal  to  the  restored 

259 


RICHARD  HOOKER  WILMER 

Union;  the  war  was  ended  once  and  forever.  *  *  * 
He  is  a  man  of  strong  views,  some  may  say,  of  strong 
prejudices.  He  has  the  courage  of  his  opinions,  and 
belongs  to  the  order  of  vertebrates." 

In  the  South,  the  book  was  greeted  with  enthus- 
iasm. 

Two  years  later  the  Bishop  republished  in  a  small 
volume  so  much  of  the  larger  work  as  dealt  with 
matters  purely  religious  and  ecclesiastical.  While 
this  was  done  at  the  request  of  many  who  thought 
that  such  a  booklet  would  be  of  use  in  popular  in- 
structions on  the  Church  it  failed  of  its  purpose.  This 
failure  was  due  not  to  any  fault  in  the  book,  but  to 
the  fact  that  while  every  statement  in  the  book  was 
true  the  book  had  not  been  written  to  subserve  the 
purpose  to  which  it  was  now  put.  It  lacked  that 
non-controversial  tone  which,  at  least  in  this  age,  is 
an  essential  in  popular  treatises  intended  to  be  used 
in  propagandism.  The  Bishop  himself  perceived  this 
fact  at  an  early  date,  and  quietly  withdrew  the  vol- 
ume from  the  market. 

The  Council  which  met  in  Greensboro,  in  May, 
1S87,  took  occasion  to  pay  especial  honor  to  the 
Bishop.  He  had  now  exercised  oversight  of  the 
Diocese  twenty-five  years,  and  his  loyal  followers 
sought  to  show  some  measure  of  their  appreciation 
of  his  leadership.  On  the  second  day  of  the  Council 
adjournment  was  taken  at  noon  for  a  special  service 
of  praise  and  thanksgiving.  A  committee  presented 
through  Dr.  Stringfellow  an  address  in  behalf  of  the 
Council,  and  through  Dr.  Cobbs  a  set  of  Robes  and 
an  Episcopal  stafT. 

260 


CHAPTER  XIV 

BISHOP   AND   FATHER 

In  consequence  of  his  continuing  ill-health  Bishop 
Wilmer  issued  a  circular  letter,  on  March  15th,  1888, 
announcing  that  he  was  unable  to  give  the  necessary 
oversight  to  the  missionary  work  of  the  Diocese  and 
that  he  would  ask  the  Council  at  its  approaching  ses- 
sion to  elect  an  Assistant  Bishop.  He  did  this  with- 
out conferring  with  the  clergy  or  laity,  and  learning 
what  their  minds  would  be  with  reference  to  his  re- 
quest. He  soon  found  that  opposition  was  general. 
The  diocese  had  never  thought  about  an  Assistant. 
The  time  was  too  short  either  to  prepare  their  minds, 
or  to  select  the  proper  man. 

The  Bishop  was  soon  convinced  that  his  request 
would  meet  little  favor  if  presented  to  the  Council. 
On  the  opening  day  of  its  sessions  he  formally  with- 
drew his  notification.  He  assured  the  Council  that, 
he  was  content  if  they  were  content;  that  he  had 
been  moved  by  desire  to  further  the  Church's  inter- 
ests, not  his  own  ease;  and  that  any  subsequent  alle- 
viation of  conditions  must  originate  with  them. 

Though  unwilling  to  elect  an  Assistant  Bishop  the 
Council  desired  to  give  the  Bishop  all  possible  non- 
Episcopal  assistance  in  his  work.  Accordingly  the 
office  of  Archdeacon  was  created,  and  the  Bishop 

261 


RICHARD  HOOKER  WILMER 

appointed  to  that  office  the  Rev.  Horace  Stringfel- 
low,  D.  D.,  rector  of  St.  John's  Church,  Montgom- 
ery. While  retaining  the  rectorship  of  his  large  par- 
ish, Dr.  Stringfellow  was  to  exercise,  under  the 
Bishop,  supervision  of  all  missionary  operations.  This 
make-shift  served  to  keep  the  work  going  two  years 
longer,  but  in  the  nature  of  things  the  rector  of  one 
of  the  largest  parishes  in  the  Diocese  could  not  give 
the  requisite  time  to  personal  visitation  and  inspec- 
tion. 

During  this  period  the  Bishop's  acute  illnesses 
were  becoming  more  frequent  and  stubborn,  and 
were  less  readily  helped  by  lithia  water.  In  the  Con- 
ciliar  year  1889-90  he  visited  only  fourteen  places 
outside  of  Mobile.  It  was  now  evident  to  all  that  the 
well-being  of  the  Diocese  demanded  more  Episcopal 
service  than  it  was  possible  for  Bishop  Wilmer  ro 
give.  The  only  question  in  the  mind  of  Church- 
men was  as  to  the  proper  method  of  relief:  Should 
neighboring  bishops  be  called  in,  or  should  an  As- 
sistant be  elected? 

When  the  Council  met  in  St.  John's  Church,  Mont- 
gomery, on  May  20th,  1890,  this  question  had  been 
settled  in  the  mind  of  a  majority  of  the  members. 
A  strong  minority  wished  to  get  outside  help,  but 
the  aggressive  spirit  was  in  those  who  wanted  an 
Assistant.  Bishop  Wilmer  himself  made  no  sug- 
gestion. He  had  said  at  Huntsville,  that  he 
would  not  again  trouble  the  Diocese  Avith  the  mat- 
ter, and  that  any  revival  of  it  must  come  from 
the  Council,  and  from  this  line  of  inactivity  he 
did    not    swerve    even    to    the    extent    of    express- 

262 


BISHOP  AND  FATHER 

ing  a  wish  one  way  or  another  to  his  intimate  friends. 

The  Bishop  was  in  the  city  but  was  confined  to  his 
room,  and  Dr.  Stringfellow  was  called  to  preside  over 
the  Council's  deliberations.  A  Committee  headed 
by  Dr.  Stringfellow  was  appointed  to  wait  on  the 
Bishop  "with  a  view  of  ascertaining  from  him  his 
wishes  as  to  any  Episcopal  assistance  in  the  future." 
This  Committee  had  not  been  charged  to  express 
the  Council's  wishes;  its  instructions  were  to  ascer- 
tam  the  Bishop's  wishes.  The  Committee  stuck  to 
the  letter  of  its  instructions,  and  with  this  result :  If 
the  Bishop  had  any  wishes  he  did  not  intend  to  take 
the  Committee  into  his  confidence.  An  Assistant 
would  certainly  be  necessary  some  time  in  the  future. 
Just  when,  he  could  not  say.  His  physician  had  as- 
sured him  that  his  present  disability  was  temporary. 
He  was  intending  to  call  in  neighboring  bishops  to 
complete  the  visitation  of  the  Diocese. 

This  was  exactly  the  sort  of  answer  that  those  who 
knew  Bishop  Wilmer  might  have  expected.  But  it 
did  not  satisfy  the  Council  that  it  had  done  all  it 
could  do.  At  the  noon  recess  the  younger  clergy 
and  laymen  determined  to  tell  the  Bishop  what  they 
thought,  since  he  would  not  tell  them  what  he 
thought.  At  the  end  of  five  hours'  debate  the  Coun- 
cil adopted  a  series  of  resolutions  declaring  that  the 
Bishop  needed  an  Assistant,  and  asking  the  Bishop's 
canonical  permision  to  proceed  at  once  to  an  elec- 
tion. A  strongly  favorable  committee — the  Rev. 
Messrs.  R.  W.  Barnwell  and  Philip  A.  Fitts,  and  Mr. 
R.  M.  Nelson — urged  the  wishes  of  the  Council  upon 
the  Bishop,  who  was  not  so  opposed  to  the  proceed- 

263 


RICHARD  HOOKER  WILMER 

ing  as  had  been  thought,  and  he  gave  his  consent 
the  next  morning,  stipulating,  however,  that  his  own 
salary  should  be  reduced  to  what  would  be  the  salary 
of  the  Coadjutor — $3,000  a  year,  and  also  that  it 
should  be  paid  only  after  payment  had  been  made 
to  the  Coadjutor. 

That  afternoon  the  Council  went  into  an  election. 
Only  three  persons  were  nominated — the  Rev. 
Thomas  F.  Gailor  of  Sewanee,  the  Rev.  Robert  S. 
Barrett  of  Atlanta,  and  the  Rev.  John  S.  Lindsay, 
D.  D.,  of  Boston.  Dr.  Lindsay  was  a  native  Vir- 
ginian, well  acquainted  personally  with  the  Bishop, 
and  it  was  known  that  the  Bishop  was  favorably  in- 
clined to  his  election.  It  was  upon  him  that  the  lot 
fell,  but  he  declined  the  election. 

The  willingness  of  the  Diocese  to  help  him  made 
the  Bishop  more  able  to  help  himself,  and  after  Dr. 
Lindsay's  declination  he  would  have  let  the  matter 
rest,  but  the  mind  of  the  members  of  the  Council 
had  not  changed.  They  were  now  insistent  that  an 
Assistant  should  be  secured,  and  in  response  to  the 
strongly  expressed  wishes  that  met  a  letter  of  inquiry 
from  him.  he  summoned  a  special  Council  for  a  fur- 
ther election. 

The  Special  Council  met  in  St.  Paul's  Church, 
Selma,  on  October  29th.  1890.  The  nominees  w^ere 
the  Rev.  Robert  S.  Barrett  of  Atlanta,  the  Rev. 
Henry  Melville  Jackson,  of  Richmond,  and  the  Rev. 
Philip  A.  H.  Brown  of  New  York.  The  clergy 
elected  Mr.  Barrett  by  a  vote  of  fifteen  out  of  a  total 
of  twenty-one.  The  laity  rejected  him  by  a  vote  of 
fourteen  out  of  twenty-one.     The  clergy  then   re- 

264 


BISHOP  AND  FATHER 

tired  again  for  consultation,  and  failing  to  agree 
upon  any  of  the  names  so  far  suggested  began  to 
turn  towards  the  Rev.  Mr.  Barnwell,  rector  of  the 
parish.  Only  Mr.  Barnwell's  strenuous  objection 
prevented  him  from  receiving  the  nomination. 

Then  the  clergy  returned  again  to  the  church  and 
reported  to  the  laity  their  inability  to  come  to  any 
agreement.  Bishop  Wilmer  was  in  the  chair.  Some 
began  to  move  for  adjournment  without  further  ac- 
tion, but  the  proposal  met  wdth  successful  opposi- 
tion. Through  much  of  the  debate  the  Bishop  sat 
apparently  oblivious  of  what  was  going  on,  taking 
advantage  of  what  was  often  a  convenient  deafness, 
and  looking  over  some  documents. 

In  opposing  the  motion  to  adjourn  Mr.  Barnwell 
turned  his  back  on  the  Bishop  and  spoke  in  a  some- 
what lower  and  confidential  tone  as  he  brought  for- 
ward a  point  which  he  thought  it  would  be  embar- 
rassing to  the  Bishop  to  hear  argued.  "We  have 
heard  much,"  he  said,  "about  the  obligation  that  we 
are  under  to  furnish  aid  to  the  Bishop  in  his  need. 
But  we  are  under  no  less  obligation  to  furnish  aid  to 
the  Diocese  in  its  need.  Few  places  have  been  vis- 
ited in  the  past  year.  And  some  places  have  not 
been  visited  in  three  or  four  years." 

"What  is  that,  Brother  Barnwell?"  sharply  queried 
the  Bishop,  his  deafness  disappearing  miracu- 
lously. 

Mr.  Barnwell  flushed  like  a  detected  school-boy, 
much  to  the  delight  of  the  congregation;  but  he 
turned  and  repeated  his  remark  very  distinctly. 

There  was  silence  a  moment.     "Name  one  of  those 

265 


RICHARD  HOOKER  WILMER 

places,  if  you  please,  Brother  Barnwell,"  said  the 
Bishop. 

"With  pleasure,  Bishop!     Pushmataha." 

The  Bishop  looked  at  him,  puzzled.  Then  smiling, 
he  nodded  his  head,  and  admitted,  "You  are  right." 

Pushmataha,  it  must  be  explained,  was  about  the 
most  inaccessible  congregation,  geographically,  in 
Alabama,  far  down  in  the  "piney-woods,"  distant 
equally  from  river  and  railroad,  and  with  dirt  roads 
of  more  than  local  notoriety. 

After  hours  of  doubt,  debate,  and  vacillation  the 
clergy  finally  elected  Dr.  Jackson,  and  the  laity  rati- 
fied their  action  by  unanimous  vote.  Dr.  Jackson 
accepted  and  was  consecrated  in  St.  Paul's  Church, 
Selma,  on  January  21st,  1891,  Bishop  Wilmer  pre- 
siding, Bishop  Randolph  preaching.  Bishops  Thomp- 
son and  Peterkin  presenting,  and  all  these,  together 
with  Bishop  Howe  of  South  Carolina,  joining  in  the 
laying  on  of  hands.  To  his  assistant  the  Bishop  con- 
fided the  entire  work  of  Episcopal  visitation  from 
Montgomery  and  Selma  northward,  and  supervision 
of  the  missionary  operations  of  the  entire  diocese. 

Bishop  Jackson  threw  himself  into  his  new  work 
with  his  whole  heart  and  soul.  For  the  first  two 
years  or  more,  until  his  health  began  to  fail  him,  he 
did  a  great  work.  A  man  of  striking  appearance,  of 
great  imaginative  power,  and  of  rare  oratorical  gifts, 
and  withal  the  capacity  to  reason  with  both  clear- 
ness and  eloquence,  he  made  a  profound  impression 
wherever  he  went.  A  two  weeks'  mission  which  he 
held  in  St.  John's  Church,  Montgomery,  shortly  after 
his  consecration  will  never  pass  from  the  memory 

266 


BISHOP  AND  FATHER 

of  the  great  throngs  that  were  in  attendance  by  day 
and  by  night;  and  the  sermon  known  as  "The  Forty 
Wrestlers  Sermon"  was  by  request  preached  at  a 
score  or  more  of  places  whither  its  fame  had  gone 
before. 

Some  of  the  congregations  near  ]\Iontgomery,  but 
in  the  portion  of  the  diocese  reserved  by  Bishop 
Wilmer  to  himself,  wrote  to  the  bishop  asking  him 
to  permit  Bishop  Jackson  to  take  the  visitations  that 
year.  The  bishop  consented.  "But,"  he  said,  "you 
remind  me  of  a  revival  that  once  occurred  in  Vir- 
ginia. In  excess  of  religious  emotion  a  likely  col- 
ored girl  began  to  shout  and  grow  hysterical.  An 
old.  gray-headed  deacon  and  a  stout,  bright-colored 
young  man  named  Jim  were  close  by  and  sprang  to 
her  assistance.  The  old  man  reached  her  first  and 
put  his  arm  around  her,  as  was  the  custom  to  pre- 
vent the  shouters  from  mjuring  themselves  in  their 
frenzy.  The  girl  opened  her  eyes  a  moment,  saw 
who  had  her,  then  shook  herself  free,  and  shouted  to 
the  old  man:  'Go  'way  fum  heah,  niggah !  I  want 
Brer  Jim  to  hoi'  me !'  " 

The  feeling  that  the  diocesan  work  would  be  well 
performed  operated  as  a  tonic  on  the  Bishop.  In- 
stead of  wasting  away,  he  became  stronger.  Re- 
leased from  a  multitude  of  details  that  had  oppressed 
him  he  gave  himself  to  a  more  comprehensive  survey 
of  diocesan  matters,  made  diligent  visitations  in  the 
Southern  part  of  the  diocese,  and  when  not  on  vis- 
itations spent  many  hours  every  day  writing  letters 
of  counsel,  advice,  and  comfort  to  his  numberless 
friends  or  preparing  articles  for  publication  in  the 

267 


RICHARD  HOOKER  WILMER 

Church  press  or  in  tract  form.  Amidst  these  occu- 
pations, numerous  and  absorbing  as  they  were,  he 
found  time  to  advise  and  counsel  with  the  many  that 
sought  him  out  in  his  ofificial  capacity,  and  to  speak 
sound  words  to  them  that  came  as  to  a  friend.  A 
young  man  of  excellent  education  offered  himself  for 
the  Ministry. 

"Can  you  read?"  asked  the  Bishop. 

The  young  man  was  offended,  and  gave  a  very 
decided  reply.  The  Bishop  simply  opened  a  Prayer 
Book  at  random,  and  bade  him  read  the  Gospel.  The 
young  man  read  a  few  sentences  in  a  halting,  life- 
less, unimpressive,  unreal  way,  though  pronouncing 
every  word  distinctly. 

"There — that  will  do,"  interrupted  the  Bishop. 
"When  you  have  learned  to  read  come  back,  and  I 
will  be  glad  to  receive  you." 

A  year  passed,  and  again  the  young  man  presented 
himself.  This  time  he  read  naturally,  as  if  he  felt  and 
would  make  others  feel  the  reality  of  what  he  was 
reading.  The  Bishop  immediately  enrolled  his 
name,  and  turning  to  him,  said, 

"My  boy,  it  is  given  to  some  to  preach  well,  and 
to  others  to  preach  not  so  well.  But  good  reading 
is  a  thing  that  every  one  can  attain  with  labor,  and 
none  can  attain  without  labor.  A  mountebank  will 
spend  months  learning  to  balance  a  sword  on  his 
nose,  or  himself  on  a  wire;  and  it  is  a  shame  that  the 
services  should  be  mutilated  and  the  Scriptures 
robbed  of  significance  by  lack  of  a  tithe  of  such  ap- 
plication by  them  that  are  to  exercise  the  ministry  of 
reconciliation.     I  have  determined  that  I  will  never 

268 


BISHOP  AND  FATHER 

again  condone  the  hiding  of  the  Gospel.  A  young 
man  has  got  to  know  how  to  read  before  I  ever  or- 
dain him." 

What  the  Bishop  preached  he  practised.  To  him 
the  services  and  the  Scriptures  were  freighted  with 
meaning,  and  it  was  the  duty  of  the  clergy  to  find 
out  their  meaning  and  express  it.  No  one  ever 
heard  him  give  wrong  emphasis.  Prayer,  hymn,  and 
revelation  were  flooded  with  new  light  when  he  con- 
ducted the  service.  And  all  this  was  because  he  was 
intelligent  enough  to  find  the  meaning,  diligent 
enough  to  learn  the  exact  tone  that  fitted  the  senti- 
ment, and  spiritual  enough  to  keep  his  rendition  of 
familiar  things  from  degenerating  into  empty  formal- 
ism. Sinai  became  almost  palpable  when  he  read 
the  Commandments;  and  while  the  peculiar  force  of 
the  last  words  of  the  Fourth  Commandment,  "hal- 
lowed it,"  echoed  in  men's  minds  many  of  them 
thought  more  than  once  before  they  remained  at 
home  the  following  Sunday. 

In  the  ordination  of  priests  none  will  ever  forget 
the  solemnity  and  searchingness  of  the  "charge,"  as 
he  read  it.  In  Confirmation  he  did  not  attempt  to 
finish  up  a  maximum  number  in  a  minute;  his  hands 
rested  a  perceptible  time  on  the  head  of  each  per- 
son, and  confirmation  was  a  veritable  benediction  to 
the  candidate.  He  could  not  tolerate  the  glib  recital 
of  the  Declaration  of  Absolution  now,  unhappily,  so 
prevalent.  He  insisted  on  a  pause  after  "pardon," 
and  another  after  "from."  "Otherwise,"  he  taught, 
"you  say  'pardon  from  your  sins,'  which  is  nonsense. 
Besides,  a  pardon  and  a  deliverance  are  two  different 

269 


RICHARD  HOOKER  WILMER 

things,  and  you  ought  to  make  the  distinction  by 
your  rendition  of  the  sentence." 

Edwin  Booth's  famous  criticism  of  the  clergy, 
"We  actors  render  the  unreal  as  if  it  were  true,  and 
you  clergymen  render  the  true  as  if  it  were  unreal," 
had  no  application  in  the  case  of  Bishop  Wilmer.  A 
professional  elocutionist,  a  retired  English  actor,  who 
was  travelling  through  England  and  the  United 
States  giving  instruction  in  the  reading  of  the  ser- 
vice, came  to  Spring  Hill  and  was  gladly  welcomed 
by  the  Bishop,  who  wished  to  learn  all  that  could  be 
taught  him.  After  staying  several  days  longer  than 
he  usually  did  the  instructor  refused  at  first  to  accept 
the  fee  agreed  on  ($50.00),  saying  that  he  had  learned 
more  from  the  Bishop  than  he  had  been  able  to  teach 
him. 

One  of  his  young  neighbors  on  "the  Hill,"  a  spir- 
itual daughter,  came  with  a  request  that  he  would 
officiate  at  her  marriage  in  the  Bishop's  own  chapel, 
St.  Paul's.  The  Bishop  readily  consented.  He  then 
gave  the  young  lady  his  blessing  and  words  of  fath- 
erly interest.     Finally  he  asked, 

"Daughter,  is  your  intended  a  Churchman?" 

"Oh,  yes.  Bishop." 

"That'is  well." 

■'But  he  is  not  confirmed." 

"That  is  not  well.  You  are  not  really  going  to 
marry  him  until  he  is  confirmed?" 

"Why  not?" 

"Because  he  has  not  yet  come  to  years  of  discre- 
tion. You  surely  would  not  marry  a  man  till  he 
comes  to  years  of  discretion." 

270 


BISHOP  AND  FATHER 

"Why,  Bishop,  what  do  you  mean?"  asked  the  ht- 
tle  woman,  with  just  the  trace  of  offence  in  her  tone. 

'T  mean  this:  Your  intended  w^as  baptized  in  in- 
fancy, and  at  that  time  he  made  by  his  sponsors  a 
promise  that  when  he  had  come  to  years  of  discre- 
tion and  had  learned  his  Christian  obHgations  he 
would  come  to  the  Bishop  to  be  confirmed  by  him. 
As  he  has  not  yet  come  I  am  warranted  in  believing 
that  he  has  not  yet  come  to  years  of  discretion,  and 
is  therefore  too  young  to  marry.  Now,  daughter, 
tell  the  young  man  what  I  have  said." 

It  was  unnecessary,  by  this  time,  to  ask  her  to  do 
this,  for  she  was  as  indignant  at  the  Bishop  as  it  is 
proper  for  a  beautiful  young  lady  to  become  at  her 
Bishop. 

The  young  man  took  it  in  better  part  than  she  had 
expected.  He  called  upon  the  Bishop,  engaged  in 
serious  conversation  with  him,  and,  when  the  Bishop 
officiated  at  the  marriage  a  few  weeks  later,  had 
proved,  according  to  the  Bishop's  own  measure,  that 
he  had  "come  to  years  of  discretion." 

On  this  same  subject  the  Bishop  wrote  some  years 
later  (1898)  in  relation  to  one  of  his  sons  who,  when 
he  was  about  to  be  married,  had  promised  to  be 
confirmed  some  time  later: 

"I  wrote  him  that  the  Church  is  a  wise  mother 
and  does  not  provide  matrimony  for  her  children 
until  they  have  reached  'years  of  discretion.'  Then 
they  are  confirmed  and  may  think  of  matrimony. 
However,  there  are  few  conditions  in  life  that  are 
more  sad  than  those  of  being  a  'confirmed  old  bache- 
lor!'" 

271 


RICHARD  HOOKER  WILMER 

Notwithstanding  his  diocesan  activities  the  Bishop 
always  exercised  a  general  supervision  over  home 
affairs.  The  premises  were  carefully  watched,  and 
the  tools  kept  in  a  dry  place.  Always  betterment 
and  economy  went  hand  in  hand,  and  generally  on 
the  principle  that  steady  betterment  was  the  truest 
economy.  Fences  did  not  fall  in  pieces  before  they 
were  repaired,  nor  did  the  wood  become  black  with 
weather  stain  before  a  new  coat  of  paint  was  applied. 
In  hiring  servants  the  rule  was  adopted  of  not  trying 
to  get  them  for  the  least  amount  of  visible  expendi- 
ture. For  example;  one  day  an  honest-faced  negro 
man  applied  to  him  for  the  position  of  gardner,  and 
the  wages  that  he  asked  were  the  ordinary  neighbor- 
hood wages,  though  he  acknowledged  that  he  had  a 
wife  and  several  children  dependent  upon  him.  The 
Bishop  declined  to  employ  him  on  such  terms,  say- 
ing, "With  that  large  family  you  cannot  live  and  be 
honest  on  such  a  sum.  I  will  double  it."  And  the 
man  fully  justified  the  Bishop's  wisdom  by  serving 
him  honestly  many  years. 

The  interest  and  care  that  he  manifested  towards 
things  about  home  were  not  confined  to  material 
matters.  He  had  lost  before  he  went  to  Alabama, 
one  child  in  infancy,  and  this  had  been  the  only 
affliction  his  long  married  life  had  known.  His 
children  were  now  all  at  man's  estate,  winning  their 
way  in  the  world,  and  all  three  of  them  were  happily 
married.  He  wrote  to  one  of  his  sons  in  1898:  "My 
heart  overflows  with  gratitude.  When  did  a  father 
have  so  much  to  be  thankful  for?  When  I  came  to 
the  Hill  thirty-six  years  ago  I  bought  a  lot  in  the 

272 


BISHOP  AND  FATHER 

cemetery  and  not  a  sod  has  been  turned."  The  ten- 
derness he  had  always  shown  his  children  he  gave  in 
full  measure  to  his  grandchildren.  They  called  him 
"Big  Pa''  and  he  was  their  comrade  in  many  of  their 
outdoor  sports,  for  which  he  had  by  no  means  lost 
his  relish.  Within  doors,  also,  they  enjoyed  with 
him  the  pleasures  of  the  billiard  table;  but  none  of 
them  could  play  as  good  a  game  as  he.  He  was  their 
companion  and  their  confidant  to  whom  they  could 
unbosom  themselves  with  assurance  riiat  he  under- 
stood their  troubles. 

One  of  the  crowning  joys  of  the  Bishop's  life  came 
in  this  period,  when  on  October  6th,   1890,  he  and 
Mrs.  Wilmer  celebrated  the  fiftieth  anniversary  of 
their  wedding.     The  occasion  gave  opportunity  to 
hundreds  of  friends  to  express  the  affection  in  which 
they  held  the  Bishop  of  Alabama  and  his  beloved 
wife.     The     unfailing    sympathy     with     which     the 
Bishop  had  met  men  of  every  degree,  and  the  gra- 
ciousness  and  gentleness  of  manner  manifested  by 
Mrs.  Wilmer  in  the  course  of    the    many    journeys 
which  she  made  with  the  Bishop,  had  drawn  many 
hearts  to  them  in  these  later  years  in  addition  to  the 
life-long  friends  of  their  youth.     Messages  and  gifts 
came  from  friends  within  and  without  the  diocese, 
from  the  official  bodies  of  mission  stations  and  par- 
ishes, from  bishops  and  other  clergy  in  the  American 
Church,  and  from  across  the  sea.     No  record  was 
kept  of  the  number  of  gifts,  but  a  schedule  in  the 
Bishop's   own   hand-writing   shows   that   a   total   of 
more  than  thirteen  hundred  dollars  was  sent  in  gold 
coin.     The  flood  of  expressions  of  good  will,  so  free 

^7Z 


RICHARD  HOOKER  WILMER 

and  so  spontaneous,  touched  the  aged  couple  deeply, 
and  incidentally  furnished  the  Bishop,  who  acknowl- 
edged the  gifts,  the  opportunity  for  many  of  his  ten- 
derest  and  most  playful  letters. 

Of  this  period  one  who  knew  him  well  gives  the 
following  information :  "At  78  years  of  age  I  have 
seen  him  beat  the  best  ten-pin  player  in  Virginia, 
using  the  largest  balls  that  were  ever  made,  and 
scorning  to  put  his  fingers  in  the  holes;  saying  that 
they  were  very  well  for  women  and  children.  He 
rolled  the  heaviest  balls  with  ease,  even  making  as 
many  as  six  strikes  consecutively.  When  nearly  80 
years  of  age  he  beat  me  at  a  game  of  billiards,  three 
balls,  when  he  had  18  points  to  go  and  I  had  only 
one.  When  nearly  that  age  he  has  hunted  with  me 
behind  the  dogs  from  seven  o'clock  in  the  morning 
until  too  dark  to  see  a  bird." 

Great  as  was  the  physical  activity  which  this  shows 
the  mental  was  even  greater.  It  was  his  rule  never 
to  retire  at  night  until  every  letter  that  could  be  an- 
swered that  day  was  answered,  and  all  his  material 
interests  were  in  such  shape  that  if  he  should  die  in 
the  night  there  would  be  no  hitch  in  the  morning. 
Up  to  his  last  illness  he  made  a  habit  of  repeating 
poetry  so  that  his  memory  would  not  fail;  and  one 
of  his  pleasures  was  to  lie  in  bed  at  night  and  amuse 
himself  translating  into  Latin  the  account  of  the 
various  happenings  of  the  day.  These  things  as 
well  as  the  practice  of  deep  breathing  which  has  been 
mentioned  before  he  did  every  night. 

Four  months  in  every  summer  the  Bishop  re- 
tvirned  to  Virginia,  drinking  the  waters  of  Capon 

274 


BISHOP  AND  FATHER 

Springs  several  weeks,  but  sojourning  mostly  at 
Winchester,  Charlottesville,  Berryville,  Alexandria 
and  Richmond.  His  grip  on  diocesan  affairs  did  not 
slacken  in  the  summer,  and  his  daily  mail  was  an  ob- 
ligation as  sacred  as  his  daily  prayers.  A  letter  rare- 
ly remained  unanswered  forty-eight  hours,  only  ill- 
ness or  the  necessity  for  mature  consideration  carry- 
ing it  beyond  the  day  of  its  receipt.  He  said  that 
any  one  familiar  with  the  duties  of  a  bishop  knows 
that  his  days  of  vacation  are  not  days  of  idleness.  His 
large  and  ever  increasing  correspondence  calls  for 
an  amount  of  daily  labor  which  can  be  appreciated 
by  those  only  who  occupy  a  like  position.  Of  bish- 
ops he  quoted  the  Latin  saying:  ''Locum,  non 
lahorein,  mutant,  qui  trans  mare  ant  terram  currnnt." 

He  never  reported  the  summer  work  out  of  the 
diocese  to  his  Councils,  but  merely  said:  "Suffice  it 
to  say  that  I  preached  and  ministered  the  Sacra- 
ments as  occasion  offered."  He  did  not  say,  what 
was  the  fact,  that  he  generally  made  the  occasion. 
When  at  the  Springs  he  always  conducted  a  short 
service  in  the  parlors  immediately  after  breakfast, 
and  spoke  a  few  words  of  exhortation.  Never  a  Sun- 
day passed  that  he  did  not  preach  somewhere  to 
somebody.  When  he  was  at  Alexandria  he  would 
often  drive  out  to  the  Seminary  and  hold  service  for 
the  students.  Of  his  last  visit  to  the  Seminary  Dr. 
Cornelius  Walker  thus  writes: 

"At  one  of  these  visits  he  was  asked  to  preach  to 
the  congregation  in  the  chapel,  and  there  was  some- 
thing peculiarly  impressive  in  his  rendering  of  the 
hymn, 

275 


RICHARD  HOOKER  WILAIER 

'  I  heard  the  voice  of  Jesus  say, 
Come  unto  Me,  and  rest; 

Lay  down,  thou  weary  one,  lay  down 
Thy  head  upon  my  breast.' 
The  sermon  following  was  in  the  same  line  of 
thought :  Jesus  Christ,  the  ground  of  all  human  ex- 
perience, the  source  of  all  human  blessing.  At  the 
last  of  these  visits,  not  very  long  after,  there  was  no 
formal  service  or  congregation,  but  a  gathering  of 
professors  and  students  in  the  prayer  hall.  His  ad- 
dress was  mainly  to  the  students,  putting  before 
them  the  real  work,  as  contrasted  with  the  ideas,  and 
anticipations,  and  efforts  of  too  many  in  their  pecu- 
liar position.  It  w^as  the  almost  closing  testimony 
of  one  in  a  long  service  to  the  Master,  who  had  been 
tried  and  not  found  wanting.  Nearly  sixty  years 
before  I  first  heard  him  in  the  Seminary  chapel.  My 
last  meeting  with  him  was  in  the  same  place." 

As  at  home  so  on  vacation  the  Bishop  found  time 
to  lighten  labor  with  playfulness.  Spending  some 
weeks  with  life-long  friends,  and  feeling  that  he 
could  exercise  a  freedom  denied  in  more  formal 
guesthood,  he  one  evening  called  for  a  cuspidor,  took 
a  quid  of  tobacco  out  of  his  pocket,  and  began  to 
chew.  When  bed-time  came  the  daughters  of  the 
house,  according  to  their  w'ont,  kissed  their  elders 
good-night.  When  they  came  to  the  Bishop  they 
kissed  him  where  they  had  not  kissed  him  before — 
on  the  forehead.  The  Bishop  sat  up  late  that  night 
in  his  room,  and  evidently  found  consolation  in  the 
following  verses,  his  only  attempt  at  metrical  com- 
position : 

276 


BISHOP  AND  FATHER 

"Let  him  who  will  tobacco  chew 
Take  care  to  ladies'  lips  eschew, 
Yet,  nathless,  if  it  must  be  so, 
He  has,  in  lieu,  a  quid  pro  quo." 
It  was  in  a  cemetery  near  the  house  where  this 
incident  occurred  that  he  commented  upon  an  in- 
scription which  in  view  of  subsequent  developments 
had  caused  some  comment.     A  disconsolate  widower 
had  erected  over  the  grave  of  his  recently  deceased 
wife  a  handsome  stone  on  which  was  the  inscription, 
"The  light  of  mine  eyes  is  gone  from  me."     Very 
shortly  after  he  was  comforted  by  another  wife,  and 
some  one  asked  the  Bishop  if  he  did  not  think  that 
an  inscription  so  glaringly  inappropriate  should  be 
chiselled  ofT. 

"Oh,  no,"  responded  the  Bishop;  "The  inscription 
is  not  at  all  inappropriate.  It  is  only  incomplete.  It 
needs  but  the  addition  of  another  line:  'But  I  have 
struck  another  match.'  " 

Friends  wrote  to  him  about  many  things — Chris- 
tian Science,  Sanctification,  Free  Silver,  Ritualism, 
Stock  Gambling,  Church  Choirs,  and  what  not,  and 
having  convictions  about  all  matters  that  came  to 
judgment,  he  unhesitatingly  answered  them  with  all 
frankness.  From  Charlottesville,  Va.,  on  August 
5th,  1893,  he  wrote  to  a  friend  in  Alabama  who  had 
made  much  money  in  the  Mineral  Regions : 
"My  dear  and  constant  friend, 

"We  are  told  on  good  authority  to  return  good 
for  evil.  Therefore  I  will  write  this  letter  so  that 
the  wayfaring  man  may  not  err  therein. 

"There  is  one  advantage  in  undecipherable  writ- 

277 


RICHARD  HOOKER  WILMER 

ing,  viz.,  that  you  cannot  fasten  on  the  writer  any 
expression  that  he  may  choose  to  disclaim.  1  made 
enough  out  of  your  letter,  however,  to  satisfy  me 
that  you  did  not  have  on  the  'Safifron  Bag.'  I  have 
just  re-read  'The  Caxtons.'  If  you  read  it  years  ago, 
you  did  not  fully  take  it  in.  One  must  have  passed 
his  three-score  years  to  appreciate  'The  Caxtons.' 
It  is  almost  inconceivable  that  the  author  of  'The 
Caxtons'  could  have  written  'Eugene  Aram.' 

"  *  *  *  Our  bottom  dif^culty  lies  deeper  than  in 
the  financial  embroglio.  It  is  in  our  want  of  thrift 
and  economy  and  industry.  Intensive  farming,  sim- 
ple habits,  frugal  living,  staying  at  home  and  setting 
hens,  etc.,  will  make  our  rural  population  comforta- 
ble. But.  what  with  our  base-ballings,  excursions, 
fairs,  political  gatherings,  picnics,  ct  it  onine  genus, 
our  people  spend  all  their  earnings;  and  then  comes 
paternalism,  and  pap-sucking. 

"I  met  with  the  case  of  one  man  who  mortgaged 
his  little  farm  to  get  money  to  go  to  Mardi  Gras — 
the  very  time  when  he  ought  to  have  had  his  coat 
off  planting  corn  and  potatoes.  Of  course  he  is  now 
a  member  of  the  'Farmer's  Alliance,'  and,  like  the 
Irishman  when  asked  what  party  he  would  join,  'agin 
the  Government.'  So  it  is  now,  has  ever  been,  and 
ever  will  be. 

"We  lose  sight  of  the  real  cause  of  our  troubles  by 
looking  too  far  away.  They  lie  close  to  us,  very  near 
at  home.  The  whole  question  of  Political  Economy 
(and  of  many  other  complicated  questions)  is  reduci- 
ble to  a  few  plain  principles.  If  you  cannot  enlarge 
your  numerator  lessen  your  denominator.     As  Car- 

278 


BISHOP  AND  FATHER 

lyle  puts  it :  'The  fraction  of  Life  can  be  increased  in 
value  as  well  by  lessening  your  denominator  as  by 
increasing  your  numerator.  *  *  *  Make  thy  claims 
of  wages  at  zero;  then  put  the  whole  world  under 
thy  feet.'  If  you  can't  buy  a  new  coat,  patch  the 
old  one.  The  French  peasant  lives  on  a  few  rows 
in  the  landlord's  field.  When  he  takes  up  a  plant  he 
puts  in  a  seed. 

'T  do  not  pretend  to  understand  the  'Silver  Ques- 
tion,' but  I  do  understand  this  much :  That  the  Gov- 
ernment— which  alone  has  power  to  issue  money — 
should  have  sense  enough  to  know,  approximately, 
how  much  currency  is  necessary  to  meet  the  needs 
of  the  people — that  whether  it  issues  a  copper-piece, 
a  silver-piece,  a  certificate,  or  a  bank-note,  it  should 
be  good  for  what  it  purports  to  represent.  Any  hon- 
est man  would  not  issue  promissory  notes  of  differ- 
ent values  for  the  same  sum.  Does  not  a  large  part 
of  our  financial  embarrassment  grow  out  of  the  lack 
of  identity  of  value  in  the  several  issues  of  currency? 

"There  was  a  great  gathering  in  New  York  some 
time  ago — an  assemblage  of  Wall  Street  men  with 
a  Bishop  as  Chairman,  met  to  protest  against  the 
New  Orleans  Lottery.  Merciful  Heavens!  Is  the 
cry  of  'Stop  Thief!'  equal  to  their  protest?  I  once 
looked  in  upon  that  pandemonium,  that  menagerie 
of  bears  and  bulls,  of  lambs  and  wolves.  What  a 
spectacle !  What  a  huge  gambling  den !  A  large  part 
of  our  financial  trouble  comes  out  of  that  Pit.  You 
may  think  me  an  'Innocent.'  God  keep  me  so. 
What  becomes  of  the  minnows  and  perch  in  that 
maelstrom  of  sharks — ! 

279 


RICHARD  HOOKER  WILAIER 

"I  open  the  Divine  Word:  'They  that  will  be  rich 
fall  into  temptation,  and  a  snare,  and  into  many  fool- 
ish and  hurtful  lusts,  which  drown  men  in  destruction 
and  perdition.'  I  preached  on  that  in  Birmingham 
whilst  the  boom  w^as  at  its  height.  I  felt  at  the  time 
that  I  might  as  well  have  stood  in  the  face  of  Niagara 
and  softly  sung,  'Flow  gently.  Sweet  Afton.' 

"Xo,  my  dear  friend,  subside.  You  have  been  in 
'The  Narrows,'  down  'The  Falls,"  in  'The  Whirlpool.' 
Now,  flow  gently  toward  'The  Sea.'  You  have  not 
been  selfish;  you  have  irrigated  the  banks  by  which 
you  have  flowed;  now  for  the  peaceful  haven  where 
you  may  cast  anchor.  I  have  great  hopes  of  a  son 
that  loved  and  still  loves  his  father.  I  heard  of  an 
old  sailor  who  had  breasted  many  a  storm,  and  had 
found  refuge  at  last  in  the  hospital  for  aged  mariners. 
There  the  Prince  of  Peace  had  given  rest  to  his 
tempest-tossed  soul.  The  Chaplain  came  to  him: 
'How  now.  Jack?'  'In  sight  of  land'  the  old  tar 
cheerily  responded.  Next  day:  'How  now,  my 
hearty?'  'Rounding  the  cape,  sir.'  The  last  day: 
'How  now?'  'Drop  anchor.  Safe  in  Port.'  Is  life 
life  worth  living?     That  life  was. 

"Anniston  stands  out  conspicuously  and  alone  for 
its  large-hearted  liberality.  I  feel  that  the  Divine 
blessing  rests  upon  it;  and  none  the  less  but  rather 
more,  for  the  cloud  that  now  hangs  over  it.  There 
has  been  too  much  sunshine;  consequently  a  drought. 
Showers  of  blessing  come  out  of  the  clouds.  I  never 
knew  anyone  to  be  blessed  through  prosperity,  but, 
oh !  the  numbers,  the  multitudes,  who  have  been 
purged  of  their  dross  in  the  furnace  of  adversity. 

280 


BISHOP  AND  FATHER 

"  *  *  :;<  I  ^vant  to  see  you  all  once  more  in  the  flesh. 

Maybe  I  may. 

"Affectionately, 

"Richard  H.  Wilmer." 
As  time  went  on  the  Bishop's  interest  in  public 
affairs  drew  him  to  an  advocacy  of  some  of  the  doc- 
trines of  the  Republican  party.  He  wrote  his  son, 
William  Holland  Wilmer,  November  nth,  1896:  "I 
was  gratified  with  the  result  of  the  election.  The 
Republican  party  is  not  altogether  the  same  party 
that  fought  the  South.  Yet  I  fear  greatly  one  thing. 
]\'Ian  is  Uisquc  in  cxtremum,'  either  unduly  depressed 
or  excited — hard  to  say  which  is  most  to  be  depre- 
cated. There  is  now  an  overproduction  of 
manufactured  goods,  or  cotton  and  iron.  Under 
the  influence  of  the  present  popular  and  en- 
couraging election  there  will  be  a  sudden  increase 
of  production,  not  called  for  by  commensurate  de- 
mand (which  is  the  only  wholesome  production  ac- 
cording to  sound  principles  of  political  economy).  In 
a  word  there  will  be  a  boom — an  abnormal  inflation, 
which  is  always  followed  by  a  corresponding  depres- 
sion. Few  people,  even  politicians,  look  at  the  fun- 
damental principles  of  affairs.  There  are  many  poli- 
ticians, and  few  statesmen.  McKinley  belongs  to 
the  latter  class.  The  only  safeguard  now  is  his  pol- 
icy of  protection.  Europe  has  dumped  her  excess 
of  labor  on  our  shores.  It  becomes  a  necessity  that 
we  provide  them  with  labor.  That  can  only  be 
brought  about  by  protection,  which  shuts  out  or  les- 
sens foreign  competition.  This  seems  to  be  our 
only  defense  against  foreign  immigration — by  giving 

281 


RICHARD  HOOKER  WILMER 

employment  to  foreign  labor  on  our  own  shores; 
there  would  seem  to  be  a  poetical  justice  in  this  mode 
of  retribution." 

He  wrote  to  a  friend  who  had  asked  his  opinion 
about  a  very  embarrassing  matter — the  necessity  of 
decreasing  the  minister's  salary.  It  will  be  noticed 
that  he  is  still  impressed  with  the  methods  of  increas- 
ing the  value  of  a  fraction: 

"The  case  presented  has  but  one  proper  solution. 
It  would  be  a  breach  of  faith  to  use  trust  funds  for 
current  expenses.  Besides,  in  a  prudential  point 
of  view,  it  would  be  'Killing  the  goose  to  get  at  the 
eggs.'  Then,  to  solve  the  problem,  either  the  sub- 
scription must  be  increased  or  the  expenses  reduced. 
The  first  is  impracticable;  the  latter,  therefore,  inevi- 
table. If  we  cannot  increase  the  Numerator  we 
must  lessen  the  Denominator.  I  see,  therefore,  but 
one  thing  to  do,  viz.,  To  say  to  the  rector  that,  at  this 
time  and  until  things  materially  change,  you  can  only 
pledge  so  much.  This  is  the  only  straightforward 
course  to  be  pursued.  The  great  majority  of  our 
rectors  live  on  less  than  you  will  be  able  to  promise 
him.  *  *  *  We  all  have  to  yield  to  stern  necessity. 
We  cannot  hope  to  give  our  boys  a  collegiate  educa- 
tion and  a  learned  profession.  We  must  put  them 
to  work.  I  shall  be  compelled  to  do  so  with  some 
grandsons,  who  deserve  more  at  my  hands. 

"But  the  learned  professions — save  that  of  the 
ministry — are  all  overcrowded.  We  stumble  over 
young  doctors  and  lawyers,  and  lo!  'a  troop  still 
cometh.'  " 

The  friend   to  whom  these   letters   were   written 

282 


BISHOP  AND  FATHER 

consulted  two  phrenologists  a  few  months  later  and 
sent  their  findings  to  the  Bishop.  Whereupon  he 
wrote  his  friend  the  following  letter: 

"I  have  just  read  through  the  enclosed  with  great 
interest.  Not  that  I  needed  any  information  as  to 
your  character,  temperament,  or  tendencies;  for  1 
think  that  I  know  you  better  than  do  these  profes- 
sionals. They  have  given  you  a  good  average,  but 
if  I  may  presume  to  say  so,  they  went  wide  of  the 
mark  in  one  particular.  *A  lawyer!'  You  speak  but 
little,  say  what  you  have  to  say,  and  listen  impatient- 
ly to  long  speeches.  If  you  had  a  partner  to  expa- 
tiate, you  would  be  first  rate  at  a  brief. 

"Concerning  what  these  experts  attribute  to  the 
father  and  mother,  on  the  one  part  or  the  other,  I 
can  see  what  you  derived  from  Heredity,  and  it  is 
very  clear  you  lost  nothing  by  Sheredity.  The 
father  had  deep  convictions,  great  conscientiousness, 
and  a  generous  nature. 

"But  it  takes  more  than  any  of  us  to  be  able  to 
take  all  our  propensions,  to  analyze  and  synthesize 
them,  and  from  the  composition  and  resolution  of  all 
these  forces,  to  indicate  the  resultant.  One  has  ac- 
quisitiveness, but  that  is  modified  by  generosity;  and 
so  forth.  We  can  tell  what  a  man  is,  but  to  predi- 
cate from  his  combined  tendencies  what  he  will  be, 
is  not  within  man's  competency.  A  man  may  have 
large  capacity,  but  without  a  large  amount  of  pride, 
connected  with  a  high  ideal,  he  will  be  diffident. 
Then  there  come  in  the  items  of  early  environment, 
the  opportunity  and  the  occasion  for  the  develop- 
ment and  exhibition  of  powers.     I  cannot  but  think 

283 


RICHARD  HOOKER  WILMER 

that  if  your  cranial  examiners  would  employ  their 
own  brains  in  doing  something  for  the  world  instead 
of  scrutinizing  the  brains  of  others,  they  would  do 
some  good  in  their  generation. 

"I  have  studied  phrenology  in  my  time;  but  I  soon 
discovered  that  it  required  more  brain  than  most  of 
us  possess  to  do  justice  even  to  the  outer  lining  of 
the  brain.  One  who  could  be  equal  to  the  task, 
would  be  about  some  graver  work. 

*'But  the  fact  is,  that  we  all  appraise  our  fellows 
more  by  physiognomy  than  by  phrenology.  The 
eye  never  lies;  the  tongue  often  does,  while  the  eye 
is  getting  the  truth.  I  would  rather  depend  on  the 
general  expression  of  a  man's  countenance  for  a 
knowledge  of  the  man  than  seek  it  by  examining  his 
bumps.  I  think,  though,  that  if  I  could  get  as  favor- 
able an  account  of  ipyself  as  these  experts  have  given 
you,  I  .should  be  tempted  to  modify  some  of  my  criti- 
cism. I  was  much  struck  with  the  similarity,  almost 
identit3%  between  the  two  papers.  These  men  have 
a  great  advantage  over  us  preachers.  They,  natu- 
rally, point  out  the  pleasantest  features.  We  have  to 
dwell  largely  upon  the  lower  tendencies  of  human 
nature,  with  a  view  to  arrest  them.  In  a  word  it 
is  the  difference  between  the  portrait  painter  and  the 
physician. 

"But  they,  most  assuredly,  struck  your  salient 
features.  They  gave  you  no  credit  for  veneration. 
There  they  made  a  mistake.  A  large  amount  of  that 
quality  makes  one  a  parasite.  A  due  allowance  of  it 
disposes  one  to  revere  what  is  venerable.  Your  de- 
votion to  your  father  and  your  country  first  drew  me 

284 


BISHOP  AND  FATHER 

to  yourself.  As  I  grow  old — Now,  if  you  feel  sleepy 
put  this  letter  clown  for  a  nap.  You  wrote,  at  least 
I  read,  that  sometimes  you  go  to  sleep  over  my  let- 
ters, and  I  believe  you  do,  for  'Homenis  nonnun- 
quam  nodit.'  But  as  I  was  writing, — As  I  grow  old, 
two  things  increasingly  impress  me,  the  littleness  of 
man,  and  the  greatness  of  the  good  God,  'Our 
Father.'  We  judge  Him,  our  Father,  naturally  and 
unconsciously  by  ourselves.  He  has  to  speak  to  us, 
in  His  Word,  in  our  own  tongue;  and  our  language 
is  too  mean,  being,  as  it  is,  the  expression  of  our 
own  thoughts  and  affections,  to  give  an  adequate 
idea  of  Divine  love  and  Divine  pity.  Two  thoughts 
occupy  me:  The  one,  that  our  Father  forgets  our 
sins — we  fathers  can  grasp  that: — the  other,  that 
He  remembereth  our  infirmities,  that  we  are  but 
dust.  We  do  not  fully  grasp  that,  for  we  forget  that 
our  children  are  children. 

"Ah,  these  Jews !  I  could  write  a  volume  on  that 
matter,  and  afford  you  scope  for  many  naps.  They 
are  the  standing  and  continuous  miracle.  They  assur- 
edly, 'suck  the  riches  of  the  Gentiles.'  Russia  shook 
them  off  as  if  they  had  been  a  vampire.  Rumor  has 
it  that  Palestine  is  mortgaged  by  the  Sultan  to  Jew- 
ish bankers.  All  of  phophecy,  so  far,  has  been  ful- 
filled in  their  marvellous  history,  and  what  remains 
of  the  unfulfillment  hastens  to  its  consummation. 

"Phrenology  proclaims  that  you  have  friendship. 
To  that  I  can  testify;  and  glad  I  am,  with  love  to 
your  house,  not  forgetting  little  Em,  to  subscribe 
myself  "Your  sincere  friend, 

"Richard  H.  Wilmer." 

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CHAPTER  XV 

LATTER  DAY  MINISTRATIONS 

When  the  Bishop  Coadjutor's  health  broke  down 
so  far  as  to  render  visitations  by  him  infrequent  and 
uncertain,  Bishop  W'ihner  girded  himself  with  re- 
newed vigor,  and  for  two  years  did  an  amount  of 
work  srreater  than  he  had  ever  before  done  in  the 
same  length  of  time. 

Once  more  he  began  to  visit  every  portion  of  the 
diocese,  and  everywhere  he  was  received  with  open 
arms.  In  a  single  year  he  visited  almost  the  entire 
diocese,  and  confirmed  large  classes.  Owing  to  the 
infirmities  of  age  his  pulpit  powers  were  decreased, 
but  the  loss  was  fully  counterbalanced  by  the  simple 
directness  and  spirituality  and  personal  testimony  of 
one  who,  arrived  at  the  age  of  fourscore  years,  stood 
plainly  on  the  very  shore  of  the  infinite.  In  the 
gatherings  about  his  chair,  wherever  he  chanced  to 
be  a  guest,  his  power  to  entertain  and  to  uplift  had 
not  suffered  one  jot  of  abatement. 

He  was  once  the  guest  of  his  son,  the  eminent 
oculist,  Dr.  \\'illiam  Holland  Wilmer,  who  had  taken 
up  in  Washington  that  ministry  for  the  physical 
vision  which  his  father  and  his  grandfather  before 
him  had  exercised  for  men's  intellectual  and  spiritual 

286 


LATTER  DAY  MINISTRATIONS 

vision.  Dr.  Wilmer  was  feeling  the  desirability  of 
changing  his  office  and  residence  from  New  York- 
Avenue,  where  he  was  then  located,  and  he  took  the 
opportunity  to  ask  his  father's  judgment  as  to  the 
best  street  for  him  to  select. 

"My  son,"  responded  the  Bishop  instantly,  "there 
are  only  two  suitable  streets  in  Washington  for  an 
oculist — C  street  and  I  street." 

And  the  son  went  to  I  street. 

One  Sunday  after  preaching  in  Trinity  Church, 
Mobile,  the  Bishop  dined  at  the  house  of  a  parish- 
ioner. He  was  conversing  with  a  number  of  fellow 
guests  when  the  host,  coming  up  behind  him,  laid 
an  admonitory  hand  upon  his  shoulder  to  claim  his 
attention  at  the  next  pause.  The  Bishop  turned  and 
looked  up  inquiringly.  The  host  leaned  down  to 
the  semi-recumbent  figure  and  shouted  in  his  ear : 

"Bishop,  let  me  fix  you  a  little  weak  toddy." 

"Omit  the  adjectives,  Frank,"  returned  the  Bishop 
briefly,  proceeding  with  his  interrupted  narrative. 

Soon  after  this  a  clergyman,  an  old  friend,  wrote 
to  tell  him  that,  interested  in  genealogy,  he  had 
traced  his  own  descent  back  to  King  David,  and 
hoped  to  go  still  further.     The  Bishop  responded : 

"I  myself  am  more  interested  in  where  I  am  going 
to  than  where  I  came  from.  You  would  better  think 
more  of  Abraham's  bosom,  and  less  of  David's 
loins." 

Once  in  Huntsville  he  was  asked  if  any  one  had 
ever  got  the  better  of  him  in  repartee.  The  occa- 
sion of  the  inquiry  was  an  episode  which  some  one 
had  just  recounted : 

287 


RICHARD  HOOKER  WILMER 

"A  distinguished  visiting  prelate  had  catechized  a 
New  York  Sunday  School,  and  at  the  conclusion  of 
the  catechizing  had  kindly  inquired  'if  there  was  not 
some  little  boy  or  girl  who  would  like  to  ask  him  a 
question.'  Silence  reigned  for  a  few  minutes,  and 
then  the  hurrying  steps  of  an  excited  youngster  were 
heard  approaching,  his  speed  and  excitement  grow- 
ing as  he  neared  the  chancel.  'Come  along,  my  lit- 
tle man,'  encouragingly  spoke  the  august  catechist; 
'Don't  be  afraid,  now.  Speak  up,  and  tell  me  what 
it  is  you  wish  to  know.'  'Mr.  Bishop,'  said  the  little 
fellow,  with  trepidation,  but  with  clear,  piping  voice, 
'the  Bible  savs  there  was  a  ladder  let  down  from 
Heaven,  and  the  angels  went  up  and  down  the  lad- 
der. What  made  them  do  that  when  they  all  had 
wings?'  The  Bishop,  non-plussed,  gave  a  loud 
'Ahem,'  flourished  his  handkerchief  as  if  he  had  an- 
swered the  problem,  and  repeated  the  question  amid 
the  tittering  of  the  audience.  He  did  not  laugh;  but 
he  did  not  answer  the  question. 

"What  is  your  answer  to  the  question.  Bishop?" 
asked  the  rector,  Dr.  Banister,  turning  with  a  smile 
of  amused  confidence  towards  Bishop  Wilmer. 

"Because  it  is  such  a  difificult  ascent  to  Heaven 
that  both  ladder  and  wings  are  necessary,"  he  re- 
torted. 

"I  don't  suppose  you  were  ever  checkmated  in 
your  life,"  remarked  one  who  was  sitting  near. 

"Oh,  yes,  I  have  been,"  answered  the  Bishop;  and 
turning  to  Dr.  Banister,  he  remarked,  "You  remem- 
ber our  friend  Meade  of  Virginia?  I  was  his  guest 
on  one  occasion,  when  an  incorrigibly  naughty  little 

288 


LATTER  DAY  MINISTRATIONS 

chap  of  six  or  seven  was  interrupting  the  conversa- 
tion by  his  incessant  noise  and  antics.  Suddenly,  to 
our  surprise,  he  subsided,  and  drawing  a  footstool 
close  to  my  side,  seated  himself  under  the  shadow 
of  my  wing.  Looking  down  at  him  a  little  sternly, 
I  said,  for  my  own  amusement,  'What  makes  you 
sit  so  close  to  me?  I  don't  like  bad  boys  to  sit  so 
near  me';  when,  to  my  infinite  surprise  and  con- 
fusion, he  blurted  out  in  a  most  offended  tone:  'Den 
why  don't  you  sit  furder,  yourself.'  That  was  cer- 
tainly a  time  when  I  was  fairly  vanquished." 

The  Bishop  occasionally  played  with  his  candidates 
for  ordination,  if  he  was  well  pleased  with  their  at- 
tainments. He  was  especially  fond  of  asking  his 
younger  candidates  whether,  as  a  question  of 
exegesis,  St.  Paul's  dictum,  "A  bishop  must  be  the 
husband  of  one  wife,"  made  marriage  a  pre-requisite 
to  the  exercise  of  the  Episcopal  office,  or  whether  it 
forbade  a  bishop  to  marry  more  than  once.  The 
anti-polygamous  nature  of  the  counsel  he  deliberate- 
ly ignored  until  the  candidate  had  answered.  He 
would  then  have  a  word  or  two  of  pleasant  comment 
on  the  domestic  nature  of  bishops,  as  shown  by  the 
fact  that  very  few  unmarried  bishops  could  be  dis- 
covered. 

The  following  incident  is  told  in  this  connection: 
He  was  once  called  to  "marrify" — as  he  always  called 
it — a  young  clergyman.  To  do  this  he  was  com- 
pelled to  give  his  excuse  to  a  prospective  host.  The 
host  good-naturedly  accepted  the  excuse,  and  re- 
marked genially,  "At  any  rate,  you  will  not  be  de- 
tained by  the  young  man  again  in  this  manner." 

289 


RICHARD  HOOKER  WILMER 

"We  cannot  tell,"  answered  the  Bishop,  with  a 
comprehensive  expression  of  opinion.  "He  may  get 
to  be  a  bishop." 

The  Bishop's  irrepressible  tendency  to  point  a 
moral  with  a  tale  was  shown  on  one  occasion  in 
Montgomery,  when  he  was  in  the  grip  of  his  life-long 
enemy,  bronchitis.  Many  friends  came  to  see  him, 
and  when  they  were  admitted  to  the  sick  room,  dur- 
ing his  convalescence,  the  conversation  turned  natu- 
rally,— at  least,  it  seemed  to  turn  naturally — to  sick- 
ness, to  helplessness,  to  dependence  upon  a  higher 
power,  to  desire  to  depart  and  be  at  rest,  and  to  the 
insincerity  of  some  of  the  prayers  and  aspirations  of 
both  sick  men  and  well.  Whether  the  conversation 
drifted  to  this  point,  or  the  Bishop  directed  it  skill- 
fully toward  his  own  chosen  port,  matters  not;  but 
when  it  had  reached  this  point,  the  Bishop  sought 
to  illustrate  the  evil  of  insincerity  in  prayer: 

"There  was  an  old  darkey  in  Georgia,"  he  said, 
"who  was  always  expressing  a  great  desire  to  take 
wing  homeward.  One  night  his  master  went  out 
to  see  if  all  was  safe,  the  fires  out,  etc.  He  heard 
the  old  darkey — 'Cato,'  by  name — praying  very  lust- 
ily in  his  cabin.  The  master  drew  nigh  to  hear  the 
prayer,  and  he  heard  Cato  say: 

"  'O,  Lawd,  sen'  di  angel  Gabrile  down  to  take  po' 
Cato  out  o'  dis  wicked  worl'.  Cato  done  tired  o'  dis 
wicked  worl'.' 

"His  master  knocked  upon  the  door. 

"'Who— who  dar?'  called  out  Cato. 

"  'The  angel  Gabrile,  come  to  take  poor  Cato  out 
of  this  wicked  world,'  said  the  master,  sepulchrally. 

290 


LATTER  DAY  MINISTRATIONS 

"  'Who  dar?'  shouted  Cato,  the  perspiration  stand- 
ing out  on  his  forehead. 

"  'The  angel  Gabrile  come,  Cato — ' 

"  'Lor',  Gabrile,  you  needn't  be  knockin'  dar.  Cato 
ain'  to  home.  Cato  ain'  been  to  home  dese  t'ree 
weeks.'  " 

One  of  his  anecdotes  may  be  quoted  pertinently 
in  this  connection :  "They  who  mean  nothing  by 
their  prayers,"  he  once  remarked,  "can  easily  pray 
for  anything  or  nothing.  'Why  do  you  curse  so?' 
said  an  acquaintance;  'you  offend  me  by  your  pro- 
fanity.' 'Oh,  well,'  was  the  reply,  'you  pray  a  good 
deal  and  I  curse  a  good  deal,  but  the  Lord  knows 
that  neither  of  us  means  anything  by  it.'  " 

Once  at  a  social  gathering  a  noted  man  of  science 
was  present.  In  discussing  with  the  Bishop  the 
general  subject  of  man's  place  in  nature,  he  re- 
marked: 

"I  think,  Bishop,  after  a  careful  study  of  the  sub- 
ject,  that  human  nature   is   a   failure." 

"Speak  for  yourself,  Doctor,"  responded  the 
Bishop,  "I  have  not  found  it  so." 

Sometimes,  one  auditor,  at  least,  would  wish  that 
the  Bishop  were  a  little  more  soft-spoken. 

"I  like  a  cheap  religion,"  said  a  so-called  Christian 
to  him  one  day.  "I  have  been  a  member  of  the 
Church  for  years,  and  I  don't  believe  it  has  cost  me 
more  than  a  dollar,  in  all." 

"Did  you  ever  think,"  asked  the  Bishop,  "that 
you  paid  a  very  extravagant  price  for  what  you  got?" 

"Why,"  weakly  returned  the  skinflint,  "my  knees 
are  horny  with  praying." 

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RICHARD  HOOKER  WILMER 

This  man  had  evidently  not  thoroughly  digested 
the  case  of  Cornelius  the  Centurion. 

It  was  such  a  man,  restricting  "praying"  to  "ask- 
ing," that  he  had  in  view  when  he  wrote :  "I  was 
asked  the  other  day,  'why  is  man  designated  as  a  ra- 
tional being?'  A  hard  question.  The  only  satis- 
factory answer,  in  view  of  his  irrational  conduct,  is 
that  he  is  more  select  and  particular  about  his  'ra- 
tions.' I  meet  the  stupid  ox:  'he  knoweth  his  own- 
er.' Alas,  I  meet  hundreds  of  so-called  'rational  be- 
ings' who  know  not  their  owner.  But  like  the  ass, 
they  frequent  the  Master's  crib." 

But  all  this,  cheerful  and  vitalizing  as  it  was,  was 
only  the  by-play  of  an  abounding  life,  and  it  came 
in  the  moments  of  relaxation  from  severer  labors  of 
official  administration.  It  eased  the  Episcopal  bur- 
den and  prevented  him  from  becoming  pessimistic  as 
he  grew  older,  and  found  the  same  problems  and 
shortcomings  to  deal  with  in  clergy  and  laity  that  he 
had  been  struggling  with  for  more  than  a  generation. 

At  one  time  there  was  a  good  deal  of  bickering 
and  stone-throwmg,  after  the  ecclesiastical  fashion, 
among  a  considerable  number  of  his  clergy,  ritual, 
theology,  and  personal  habits  being  mutually  con- 
demned, and,  occasionally,  in  rhetorical  figures.  One 
morning,  as  the  Bishop  sat  waiting  for  the  train  to 
leave  Montgomery,  he  was  discussing  the  situation 
with  one  of  his  clergy,  and  suddenly  quoted  a  line 
from  Virgil  as  being  pertinent:  "  'Tanfacnc  irac  in 
coclcstibus  animisr  Coclcstibusf"  he  repeated, 
Coclcstihus?    No.    Dctcstibusr 

He  found  it  necessary  to  be  vigilant  against  world- 

292 


LATTER  DAY  MINISTRATIONS 

liness,  not  only  among  the  laity  but  among  the 
clergy.  It  is  worth  while  to  note  the  different  ways 
in  which  he  rebuked  its  different  phases. 

Of  the  darker  phases  of  clerical  worldliness  which 
have  occurred  from  time  to  time  in  all  churches,  lit- 
tle need  be  said.  They  hurt  the  Bishop  as  if  they 
were  the  misdoings  of  his  own  tiesh  and  blood;  and, 
indeed,  he  did  regard  his  clergy  as  his  spiritual  chil- 
dren. Whenever  discipline  was  administered  it  was 
attended  with  love,  with  unflinching  sternness; 
with  a  word,  where  possible,  of  counsel  and  cheer; 
but,  above  all  else,  with  privacy.  Cases  of  suspen- 
sion and  deposition  occurred  wherein,  though  the 
Canons  were  scrupulously  observed,  not  twenty  per- 
sons knew  what  had  been  done  until  the  official  Jour- 
nal of  the  Bishop  was  read  at  the  next  annual  Coun- 
cil. Consideration  for  the  culprit,  regard  for  the 
good  name  of  the  diocese,  and  the  shame  which  the 
father  felt  for  the  son,  combined  to  prevent  the  nois- 
ing abroad  of  family  disgrace. 

Clerical  extravagance  in  ritual,  in  the  few  cases 
that  came  before  him,  was  ever  treated  in  a  kindly 
but  firm  and  positive  way.  "Reverend  and  dear 
brother,"  wrote  he  to  one  clergyman,  "rumors  have 
reached  me  that  some  changes  in  the  ritual  of  your 
parish  church  have  excited  some  talk. 

"As  you  well  know,  I  am  the  last  person  to  dic- 
tate in  any  matter  in  regard  to  which  the  common 
law  and  usage  of  the  Church  allows  latitude. 

"The  object  of  this  letter,  therefore,  is  simply  to 
put  you  on  your  guard.  While  many  things  are  law- 
ful,  they  are  not  all   expedient.     Great  wisdom   is 

293 


RICHARD  HOOKER  WILMER 

to  be  exercised  in  the  introduction  of  any  change, 
especially  in  this  our  day  when  people  are  rendered 
suspicious  by  the  extravagance  of  some  of  the  clergy. 

"And  then,  again,  you  are  new  to  the  people  of 
your  charge.  You  have  not  had  time  to  gain  their 
love  and  confidence.  This  is  an  all-important  matter 
for  you  to  weigh  well. 

"I  pray  you  to  consider  well  not  only  the  proper 
thmg  to  do,  but  the  proper  time  for  doing  it. 

"To  yourself  only  have  I  written  on  this  subject. 
When  I  hear  anything  of  my  clergy  that  is  likely  to 
work  an  injury  my  invariable  rule  is  to  confer  with 
them.  I  have  the  honor  and  welfare  of  my  clergy  in 
sacred  regard,  and  I  have  also,  in  equal  regard,  the 
unity,  peace  and  concord  of  the  congregation. 

"I  write  this,  not  knowing  anything  of  what  is 
alleged,  nor  anything  of  the  merits  of  matters  in- 
volved; but  with  the  single  aim  of  putting  you  on 
your  guard. 

"Let  the  peace  and  unity  of  your  flock  be  of  deep- 
er concern  than  the  gratification  of  your  taste  in  mat- 
ters non-essential. 

"Of  course,  in  matters  of  principle — the  things 
essential — there  is  but  one  rule  for  an  honest  mind. 
But  the  shepherd  acts  not  wisely  when  he  needlessly, 
by  dress  or  gesture,  frightens  his  sheep  and  scatters 
the  flock." 

The  same  sympathy  that  he  manifested  towards 
clergy  and  laity  he  manifested  towards  them  that 
were  passing  from  the  lay  to  the  clerical  estate.  The 
examinations  successfully  passed  and  the  ordination 
over,  it  was  his  custom  to  use  a  portion  of  the  day 

294 


LATTER  DAY  MINISTRATIONS 

following  in  giving  the  young  men  such  counsel  in 
pastoral  theology  as  he  thought  they  needed.  One 
such  case  has  been  recorded  with  especial  fullness: 

It  was  a  hot  Monday  in  August.  Three  young 
deacons  sat  in  the  study  at  Spring  Hill.  They  had 
been  ordained  the  day  before,  and  had  now  come  to 
the  Bishop  for  a  final  conference  before  proceeding 
to  their  respective  fields  of  work.  For  several  hours 
the  Bishop  gave  them  instruction  in  his  charac- 
teristically informal,  discursive,  anecdotic  w'ay.  He 
took  little  for  granted  but  his  hearers'  sincerity  and 
immaturity,  and  so  his  discourse  covered  such  points 
as:  "Use  black  ink  in  writing  your  sermons;" 
"Preach  original  sermons  twice  a  month;  on  alter- 
nate Sundays  read  the  sermons  of  some  great 
preacher;  and,  to  keep  the  congregation  from  think- 
ing that  they  are  your  own  compositions,  tell  them 
before  hand  whose  sermon  you  are  about  to  read." 

His  concluding  advice  was:  "You  boys  know  very 
little;  let  that  consideration  work  in  you  humility. 
But  lest  you  be  overmuch  dejected  by  this  thought, 
remember  that  your  congregations  know  even  less 
than  you  know;  let  that  consideration  give  you  due 
confidence." 

Then  taking  from  his  desk  several  slips  of  paper 
he  proceeded:  "I  have  been  in  the  ministry  nearly 
fifty  years  and  in  all  that  time  I  have  never,  as  dea- 
con, priest,  or  bishop,  asked  for  the  payment  of 
my  salary  or  lived  beyond  my  income.  I  want  to 
give  you  the  opportunity  to  pursue  the  same  course. 
At  least,  I  want  to  make  it  unnecessary  for  you  at 
the  very  outset  of  your  ministry  to  be  asking  for 

295 


RICHARD  HOOKER  WILMER 

your  salary.  It  will  be  fully  a  month  before  any  of 
you  receives  his  salary,  and  it  will  be  three  months 
before  you  receive  a  check  from  the  Board  of  Mis- 
sions. This  will  tide  you  over  the  intervening  weeks 
and  enable  you  to  preserve  your  own  self-respect  and 
the  respect  of  your  congregations."  And  with  these 
words  the  Bishop  handed  each  deacon  a  check  for 
fifty  dollars. 

Some  of  the  clergy  who  had  yet  to  get  acquainted 
with  the  Bishop  would  become  discouraged  when 
they  consulted  him  as  to  their  methods  of  work  or 
outlined  plans  for  the  future.  Almost  invariably  the 
Bishop  suggested  that  some  other  way  or  plan  would 
be  better,  and  gave  his  reasons  for  so  thinking.  And 
then  when  the  discouraged  clergyman  had  retired, 
thinking  that  the  Bishop  was  either  blind  or  unsym- 
pathetic, the  Bishop  would  praise  him  without  stint 
and  commend  the  work  just  discussed  most  heart- 
ily. One  day  the  clergyman  that  happened  to  re- 
main remarked  that  he  seemed  to  be  inconsistent  in 
doing  this. 

"Why,"  he  responded,  "if  you  had  a  child  much 
given  to  reading,  would  you  not  urge  him  to  spend 
more  time  in  the  playground?  But  if  your  child 
cared  for  nothing  but  play  would  you  not  dwell 
rather  upon  the  advantage  of  a  well-filled  mind,  and 
encourage  him  in  the  love  of  study?  Now,  that  is 
precisely  the  principle  that  guides  me  in  advising  my 
clergy.  They  do  not  need  encouragement  to  do 
what  they  are  already  doing,  but  they  do  need  to 
have  their  minds  directed  to  aspects  of  their  work 
that  they  do  not  naturally  take  to.     I  urge  my  stu- 

296 


LATTER  DAY  MINISTRATIONS 

dious  clergy  to  do  more  visiting,  and  with  the 
house-going  parson  I  lay  stress  on  study.  This  is 
what  I  understand  to  be  'rightly  dividing  the  word 
of  truth.'  " 

In  reply  to  an  obvious  objection  to  such  a  method 
of  training,  the  Bishop  went  on  to  say  that  while  this 
course  helped  to  round  out  many  an  excellent  char- 
acter he  did  not  believe  it  had  injured  any  man  or 
hindered  any  work.  "If  a  man  is  so  easily  discour- 
aged that  he  will  desist  from  his  undertaking  merely 
because  of  what  I  have  to  say  in  ofif-hand  judgment, 
he  has  evidently  not  put  his  whole  soul  into  it  and 
the  project  would  not  have  amounted  to  anything 
any  way." 

The  Bishop  was  much  exercised  about  the  condi- 
tion into  which  the  Church  music  had  degenerated  in 
some  parts  of  the  diocese.  His  dissatisfaction  was 
much  increased  by  the  performance  of  one  who 
might  properly  be  called  the  'leading  lady"  in  a  cer- 
tain choir.  After  a  most  impressive  sermon  by  the 
Bishop  on  the  gift  and  power  of  the  Holy  Ghost,  this 
professional  proceeded  to  sing  as  an  offertory  an- 
them a  series  of  vocal  exercises,  which  made  the 
clergy  and  the  congregation  feel  as  if  the  Church 
were  full  of  fireworks  and  toboggan  slides.  The 
Bishop's  face  was  a  study,  but  he  said  nothing  pub- 
licly at  the  time  about  the  grievous  anti-climax.  Pri- 
vately he  expressed  indignation  and  being  asked  the 
effect  upon  himself  answered  that  it  was  as  though 
in  the  glow  of  his  feeHng  a  bucket  of  cold  water  had 
been  thrown  upon  him. 

Having  reserved  his  public  remarks,  he  spoke  in 

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RICHARD  HOOKER  WILMER 

the  most  vigorous  terms  at  the  next  Annual  Coun- 
cil and  to  such  good  effect  that  thenceforward  when 
an  operatic  star  was  to  sing  a  solo  in  a  church  in 
Alabama  the  attraction  was  not  advertised  in  the 
daily  papers. 

"As  for  the  choir,"  said  he,  "their  proceedings 
have  been  for  a  long  time,  and  still  are  to  a  lamenta- 
ble degree,  mere  performances.  Indeed,  the  only 
legislation  of  the  Church  on  the  subject  of  music  was 
brought  about  by  the  unseemly  and  almost  scandal- 
ous doings  of  the  choir.  The  organist  stirred  him- 
self to  the  most  elaborate  efforts;  tunes  were  selected 
for  the  display  of  songsters  in  duets  and  solos.  In 
many  instances  new  and  unfamiliar  tunes  were  intro- 
duced to  prevent  the  congregation  from  joining  in 
the  worship.  Snatches  from  popular  operas  were 
played  to  gratify  the  audience.  And  sometimes, 
after  a  solemn  discourse  music  suited  to  the  dancing 
hall  accompanied  the  steps  of  the  worshipers  down 
the  aisles.  The  picture  is  not  at  all  overdrawn.  It 
was  the  travesty  upon  worship.  So  much  so  that  I 
have  been  tempted  at  times  to  rise  and  proclaim : 
'Take  these  things  hence;  the  Father's  House  is  the 
House  of  Prayer.'  The  whole  performance  seemed 
to  be  for  the  glory  of  the  choir,  with  but  faint  mem- 
ory of  the  Most  High  God.  And  the  difficulties  of 
managing  choirs  had  become  proverbial.  I  remem- 
ber, on  one  occasion,  to  have  heard  the  late  Bishop 
Meade  of  Virginia  say  to  a  young  clergyman,  who 
had  asked  him  if  he  could  tell  him  how  to  manage  his 
choir:  'No,  I  cannot.  Forty  years  long  have  I  been 
grieved  with  this  generation.'  " 

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LATTER  DAY  MINISTRATIONS 

On  the  eightieth  anniversary  of  his  birthday, 
March  15th,  1896,  Bishop  VVihner  preached  in  Christ 
Church,  Mobile.  A  congregation  of  twelve  hun- 
dred occupied  every  seat  in  the  church.  Two-thirds 
were  men,  whom  especially  the  Bishop  had  requested 
to  be  present,  and  to  whom  in  particular  his  sermon 
was  addressed. 

The  text  was  Psalm  119:  9:  "Wherewithal  shall  a 
young  man  cleanse  his  way  ?  By  taking  heed  there- 
to, according  to  thy  word."  The  optimism  of  the 
strong  young  men  before  him  was  not  surpassed  by 
that  of  the  aged  preacher.  "I  find  no  period  that, 
on  the  whole,  compares  favorably  with  the  present," 
he  declared.  "We  look  around  upon  the  large  num- 
ber of  unreligious  men  in  our  midst.  The  prevail- 
ing impression  is  that  there  is  a  growing  indiffer- 
ence on  their  part  to  religious  truth.  Not  so.  I 
can  well  remember  when,  in  the  'Old  Dominion,'  in- 
fidel opinions  were  looked  upon  as  the  suitable  finish 
to  a  polite  education.  It  is  difficult  for  me  now  to 
recall  instances  of  avowed  faith  among  cultivated 
men  a  half  century  ago.  At  the  present  time  it  is 
much  the  reverse." 

Premising  then,  that  progress  was  on  the  whole 
towards  good,  he  dealt  with  the  obstacles  to  this 
progress,  speaking  plainly  of  the  evils  of  present-day 
life,  and  condemning  as  the  worst  of  these,  that  dou- 
ble standard  of  morals  for  man  and  woman  which 
makes  not  woman's  higher,   but  man's  lower. 

"You  would  look  with  horror,"  he  said,  "upon  a 
woman  whose  mouth  was  filled  with  profanity  and 
impurity.     Why?     Because   it    is    vulgar    and   im- 

299 


RICHARD  HOOKER  WILMER 

pious,  and  indicates  an  impure  heart.  What  law 
or  reason  renders  that  respectable  in  a  man  which 
would  take  away  all  charm  from  the  character  of  a 
woman?  Why  should  not  the  woman  be  as  select 
in  her  tastes  as  a  man,  and  how  shall  she  endure  in 
him  what  would  in  her  be  intolerable  to  him? 

"Smart  men,"  he  said  further  on,  "are  often  scep- 
tical— profound  men.  never!  The  merely  smart 
man  fancies  that  he  can  grapple  with  all  questions 
and  explore  all  mysteries,  even  the  nature  of  the 
Most  High  and  the  mysteries  of  the  Divine  dealings. 
He  lets  down  his  little  line  into  a  subject  unfathom- 
able by  the  mind  of  man,  and  when  it  runs  out  is 
wont  to  exclaim — 'I  have  found  bottom !'  Short- 
sighted man !  He  has  only  found  the  end  of  his 
line!" 

The  optimism  of  the  aged  prelate  went  hand  in 
hand  with  the  playful  condescension  of  the  ancient 
grandfather.  In  the  following  letter  written  with 
his  own  hand  he  supposes  himself  to  be  the 
amanuensis  of  the  little  girl  in  whose  name  he  sends 
the  letter: 

"Charlottesville,  Va.,  Aug.  26,  '95. 
"My  dear  sir, 

"You  may  be  surprised  to  get  this  letter  from  a 
little  lady  whom  you  have  never  seen,  and  of  whom 
you  have  never  heard.  Let  me  introduce  myself. 
I  am  a  wee  one,  not  three  years  old  yet,  am  the  great 
granddaughter  of  one  of  whom  you  have  often  heard 
— Bishop  Meade. 

"But  though  I  am  a  little  one  I  have  had,  for  some 
time,  a  great  yearning  for  a  little  dog  pet,  to  play 

300 


LATTER  DAY  MINISTRATIONS 

with  me,  for  I  am  the  only  child  in  the  house,  and  I 
want  some  cheerful  companion  a  little  younger  than 
myself. 

"Well,  there  came  to  our  house  the  other  day  a 
large,  fine-looking,  good-natured  gentleman,  a 
cousin  of  my  Big  Pa.  I  call  Uncle  Richard  Wilmer 
of  Alabama  'Big  Pa'— and  Big  Pa  said  to  this  gen- 
tleman— 'How  is  Will  getting  on  with  his  puppies?' 
And  he  said,  'Will  has  only  17  just  now.'  Well, 
thought  I,  here  is  my  chance  for  a  puppy. 

"Now,  won't  you,  like  a  good-natured  gentleman, 
as  Big  Pa  says  you  are,  pick  me  out  a  nice  little 
puppy?  I  mean  to  call  him  'Billy'  for  you — a  black 
and  white  little  fellow,  if  you  can;  and  when  you 
come  down  to  Virginia  put  him  in  a  little  box  and 
send  him  to  Miss  Fannie  Meade,  Piedmont  Insti- 
tute, Charlottesville.  I  will  superintend  his  educa- 
tion at  the  school,  and  see  that  his  manners  will  do 
you  credit  for  his  early  raising. 

"And  I  will  wish  for  yourself — I  hear  you  are  lone- 
some— a  nice  little  wife  and  many  little  girls — each 
one  to  have  a  puppy  to  herself. 
"Sincerely, 

Her 
"Fannie  X.  Meade. 
Mark. 
"To  Mr.  W.  H.  Wilmer." 

Also  he  could  at  times  write  a  similar  letter  in  his 
own  name,  as  witness  these  few  lines  to  a  grandson 
in  Washington : 

301 


RICHARD  HOOKER  WILMER 

"Jany.  5,  '98. 
"My  darling  Richard: 

"It  is  not  often  that  a  Grandfather  gets  cents 
(sense)  from  his  grandson.  Nobody  can  accuse  you 
of  non-cents,  although  after  you  have  sent  your  letter 
you  had  less  cents  than  you  had  before. 

"I  am  going  to  put  them  by  carefully,  and  you  may 
have  the  comfort  of  knowing  that  as  long  as  I  keep 
them  I  will  never  be  out  of  money. 

"I  want  you  to  grow  up  and  have,  as  your  Grand- 
father has,  a  D.  D.  after  his  name. 

"But  you  can  put  it  now,  if  you  please;  and  what 
will  it  stand  for? — 'Daddy's  Dick!'  And  I  will  write 
it  to  my  name — 'Dick's  Daddy.' 

"My  love  to  all.  Be  sweet  and  gentle  to  'the  little 
girl'     A  blessed  New  Year  to  you  all. 

"Your  loving  Big  Pa, 

"Richard  Wilmer. 
"To  Master  Richd.  H.  W'ilmcr,  D.  D." 

The  Bishop  was  able  to  spend  only  a  small  part  of 
the  year  1897  in  his  Diocese.  Going  to  Virginia  in 
the  early  summer,  according  to  his  practice,  he  was 
prevented  by  the  spread  of  yellow  fever  and  the  con- 
sequent quarantine  from  returning  home  until  De- 
cember. Nearly  every  Sunday  of  his  absence  he 
preached  in  Washington,  Richmond,  or  Alexandria, 
or  to  the  young  men  of  the  Theological  Seminary  or 
of  the  University  of  Virginia.  When  he  at  last  suc- 
ceeded in  getting  home  the  diocesan  labors  were  of 
the  kind  a  Bishop  always  has,  but  were  increased  in 
amount  by  the  necessity  laid  upon  him  of  undertaking 

302 


LATTER  DAY  MINISTRATIONS 

visitations  that  could  not  be  made  by  the  Bishop 
Coadjutor.  He  still  harped  on  financial  system  in 
the  missionary  work.  He  emphasized  in  words  both 
spoken  and  written  the  danger  of  the  present  day 
tendency  to  parochialism,  and  urged  as  the  only  cure 
for  the  disease  diocesanism.  His  capacity  for  con- 
tinuous labor  is  shown  by  this  notice  of  a  week's 
visitation  about  Birmingham : 

"On  the  morning  of  Sunday,  March  27th,  (1898) 
he  preached  in  the  Advent  and  confirmed  17  persons. 
In  the  afternoon  he  preached  in  St.  Mary's  and  con- 
firmed 10.  Both  churches  were  crowded.  Tuesday 
morning  he  addressed  the  pupils  of  the  Colored  Girls' 
Industrial  School;  and  Tuesday  night  he  went  out 
to  Avondale  in  a  pouring  rain  and  in  Christ  Church 
preached  to  a  large  congregation  and  confirmed  7. 
Wednesday  afternoon  he  addressed  the  congregation 
of  St.  Mary's  on  Diocesan  Missions,  and  at  night 
visited  St.  Mark's  Church.  On  Thursday  night  he 
preached  to  young  men  in  the  Church  of  the  Advent. 
On  Friday  he  went  to  Anniston,  where  he  preached 
on  Sunday.      Monday  he  went  home." 

In  Selma,  a  little  later,  on  a  hot  day  in  July,  he 
was  able  to  stand  a  service  that  wore  out  many  not 
half  his  age — the  service  including  Morning  Prayer, 
Litany,  Sermon,  Baptism,  Confirmation,  Ordination, 
and  Holy  Communion ! 

Writing  from  Virginia  a  few  days  later  about  the 
work  he  had  done  on  this  trip,  he  said :  "I  never 
had  a  more  cheering  visitation  than  the  last,  when  I 
stopped  at  Montgomery,  went  to  Selma,  and  ordained 
a  Deacon  supplying  the  Alabama  River  Missions,  re- 

303 


RICHARD  HOOKER  WILMER 

turning  to  IMontgomery,  conferring  with  the  vestry, 
preaching,  celebrating  in  public  and  private,  and  con- 
firming a  class  from  both  churches  at  the  Holy  Com- 
forter. What  work  so  fills  the  heart  and  elevates 
the  aspirations  as  the  work  of  the  Ministry !  I  fairly 
bathed  in  the  love  of  the  dear  people.  How  the  heart 
of  man  responds  to  a  loving  appeal !  Commit  to 
memory  the  586th  hymn.  It  runs  through  me  night 
and  dav.  Preach  Christ  if  vou  would  have  the 
demonstration  of  the  spirit :  the  Fatherhood,  if  you 
would  bring  the  children  home." 

Often  his  physical  weakness  was  so  great  that  he 
preached  sitting;  and  on  several  occasions  he  gave 
the  manuscript  of  his  sermon  to  the  rector  to  read, 
while  he  himself  would  from  time  to  time  interpolate 
illustrative  remarks. 

Visiting  a  Middle  Alabama  parish,  he  was  expected 
to  preach,  and  one  of  the  prominent  gentlemen  of  the 
congregation  had  invited  another  gentleman  to  be 
present  to  hear  a  great  sermon.  Unfortunately  the 
Bishop  was  unable  to  preach,  and  the  rector  preached 
a  sermon  that  did  not  quite  measure  up  to  what  had 
been  expected.  The  Bishop  and  the  distinguished 
gentleman  were  seated  at  dinner  afterwards  when  the 
conversation  drifted  to  sermons.  One  of  the  laymen 
expressed  a  rather  emphatic  opinion  of  the  morning's 
sermon,  and  then  asked :  "Why  do  we  have  so  many 
poor  preachers?" 

The  Bishop  gazed  at  him  intently  for  a  few 
moments  and  then  responded:  "Why  should  you 
be  surprised  when  you  consider  the  stuff  w'e  have 
to  make  them  out  of?    We  have  to  make  them  out  of 

304 


LATTER  DAY  MINISTRATIONS 

laymen,  and  with  such  poor  stuff  to  start  with,  it  is  no 
wonder  that  we  do  no  better." 

In  October  of  this  year  he  was  Chairman  of  the 
Committee  of  the  House  of  Bishops  on  the  Pastoral 
Letter  which  that  House  addresses  to  the  Church  at 
every  General  Convention.  Bishop  Gailor,  of  Ten- 
nessee, was  also  on  the  same  Committee,  and  the 
letter  was  written  by  him. 

During  the  session  of  the  General  Convention  the 
Bishop  celebrated  the  Holy  Communion  at  St. 
Alban's  Church,  Washington  City.  The  spot  was 
made  memorable  a  few  days  later  by  the  unveiling 
of  the  "Peace  Cross"  in  the  presence  of  a  vast  multi- 
tude. President  McKinley  participating  in  the  exer- 
cises. Bishop  Wilmer  was  not  present.  Instead, 
he  visited  the  "Louise  Home,"  a  refuge  for  im- 
poverished women  of  refinement,  founded  by  W,  W, 
Corcoran,  and  a  benevolence  that  appealed  to  every 
chivalric  impulse  in  the  Bishop's  heart.  There, 
during  the  more  largely  attended  "Peace  Cross"  un- 
veiling, the  Bishop  unveiled  the  Cross  of  Christ,  tell- 
ing the  women  that  the  last  act  of  the  Lord,  before 
his  departure,  w^as  to  provide  a  home  for  his  widowed 
mother — "Son,  behold  thy  mother" — and  that  Christ 
had  provided  for  them  this  home  here,  and  another 
for  them  when  they  should  be  called  hence. 

Throughout  the  winter  of  1898-99  "general  de- 
bility and  almost  entire  loss  of  locomotive  power," 
as  the  Bishop  declared  the  cause,  restricted  him  to  the 
house.  After  several  months  of  such  confinement  he 
had  spirit  enough  to  w^ite  to  a  relative  as  follows : 

"When  I  w^as  in  Washington  last  our  Presiding 

305 


RICHARD  HOOKER  WILMER 

Bishop  (Williams  of  Connecticut) — seventeen  months 
younger  than  myself — wrote  us  that  he  could  not  be 
with  us  because  'his  legs  wouldn't  mind  him.'  I 
wrote  him,  not  long  ago,  that  my  own  legs  had  been 
wayward  for  some  time.  I  reminded  him  that  King 
Solomon  describes  the  on-coming  of  the  end  by  say- 
ing that  'the  keepers  of  the  house' — as  he  styled  the 
legs — 'tremble.'  I  suggested  to  him  that  when  the 
'housekeepers'  shook  it  was  a  notice  to  the  tenant 
that  they  were  about  to  quit  housekeeping!  A  few 
days  after,  the  papers  announced  that  the  good 
Bishop  had  removed  to  another  habitation — 'the 
House,'  I  hope,  'not  made  with  hands,'  where  trem- 
bling legs  give  place  to  untiring  wings." 

Many  w-eeks  of  this  time  the  Bishop  occupied  in 
mailing  to  friends  copies  of  sermons  which  he  pub- 
lished this  year  on  "The  Efificacy  of  Prayer"  and  on 
"Confession  of  Sin,  not  Profession  of  Religion.''  The 
latter  was  a  revision  of  his  sermon  on  the  "Pharisee 
and  Publican."  Of  this  revised  sermon  an  edition 
of  four  thousand  copies  was  published,  and  every 
copy  was  distributed — about  a  thousand  by  the 
Bishop  himself,  and  the  remainder  by  clergymen  all 
over  the  country,  who  used  in  the  spiritual  prepara- 
tion of  their  candidates  for  Confirmation.  Of  the 
tract  on  "The  Ef^cacy  of  Prayer"  ten  thousand 
copies  were  distributed,  first  and  last,  besides  the 
larger  circulation  which  it  secured  by  republication 
in  many  of  the  diocesan  and  general  Church  papers. 
One  paragraph  will  give  the  gist  of  the  sermon  on 
the  Pharisee  and  the  Publican,  though  the  whole  ser- 
mon would  have  to  be  printed  to  show  its  strength: 

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LATTER  DAY  MINISTRATIONS 

"How  many  self-righteous  Pharisees  there  are  now 
in  our  day,  thanking  God  that  they  are  not  as  other 
men,  and  taking  comfort  from  the  thought;  and  how 
many  earnest  and  contrite  hearts  are  bewildered  be- 
cause the  way  of  life  is  darkened  by  false  counsel  and 
Pharisaic  pretension.  Hence  come  those  pleas, 
which  we  meet  with  at  every  turn,  when  we  are 
urging  men  to  come  forward  and  make — not  a 
'profession  of  religion,'  as  is  the  phrase,  and  a  mis- 
leading phrase  it  is — but  a  confession  of  their  sinful- 
ness and  of  Christ  their  Saviour.  The  Pharisee  is  an 
example  of  the  one  class :  he  professed  all  the  religion 
that  he  had.  The  Publican  is  an  example  of  the 
other:  he  confessed  his  sinfulness  and  obtained  his 
pardon:  'he  went  down  to  his  house  justified.' 
Strange  it  is  that  what  is  popularly  called  'Bible 
religion'  should  differ  so  widely  from  the  sacred 
record." 

The  Bishop's  correspondence  with  his  friends  was 
voluminous,  averaging  ten  letters  a  day.  On  July 
15th,  1898,  he  wrote  to  one:  "My  pen  is  going  now 
at  the  rate  of  eight  hours  a  day.  I  know  not  how 
I  keep  up,  but  the  Father  is  good  to  us."  His  letters 
were  far  from  being  always  didactic  and  dogmatic. 
Wisdom  there  was  in  abundance,  and  counsel,  where 
there  were  eyes  to  see;  but  he  always  took  something 
for  granted  in  those  to  whom  he  wrote.  To  a  friend 
who  asked  him  to  "straighten  out"  the  matter  of 
God's  dealings  with  Job's  children,  a  difficulty  which 
seemed  to  the  writer  the  crowning  mystery  of  the 
Book  of  Job,  he  wrote: 

"If  you  had  as  many  crooked  things  to  straighten 

307 


RICHARD  HOOKER  WILMER 

out  as  I  have  you  would  not  bother  about  Job's  chil- 
dren. It  may  be  that  Job's  first  children  were  a  bad 
lot,  and  in  his  last  days  were  replaced  by  better  ones. 
I  have  often  noticed  that  when  people  have  no  chil- 
dren of  their  own  they  are  busy  in  straightening  out 
other  people's  children.  Why  not  take  hold  of  the 
present  generation  of  children  and  help  to  straighten 
them  out?  If  you  had,  as  I  have,  a  lot  of  children, 
grand-children,  and  great  grand-children,  you  would 
understand  that  I  have  to  let  Job's  children  have  the 
go-by.  The  great  mystery  in  Job's  case  is  that  that 
wife  of  his  was  not  taken  with  the  children.  Her 
continuance  was  the  climax  of  his  torture.  But,  my 
dear  brother,  my  main  struggle  now  is — and  I  com- 
mend the  same  to  all  my  friends — to  straighten  my- 
self out :  and  it  keeps  me  very  busy,  I  assure  you, 

"Love  to  the  good  wife — you  are  better  off  than 
Job. 

"N.  B. — From  all  accounts  Job  was  satisfied.  Why 
should  we  not  be?" 

It  was  not  until  this  year  that  the  Bishop  was  called 
upon  to  deal  with  Ritualism  and  Rationalism  simul- 
taneously in  his  diocese.  Mild  forms  of  each  had 
shown  themselves  before,  but  not  until  now  had  they 
become  at  all  aggressive.  Their  very  presence  irri- 
tated the  Bishop,  and  early  in  the  year  he  published 
an  open  letter  to  his  clergy  in  which  he  spoke  his 
mind  without  mincing  words.  As  to  Ritualism,  he 
said:  "Usages  and  modes  of  worship  long  since  dis- 
carded are  finding  their  way  back  into  our  worship, 
to  the  great  grief  of  all  loyal  Churchmen,  and  the 
loss  of  that  glorious  prestige  which  she  has  gained 

308 


LATTER  DAY  MINISTRATIONS 

for  herself  in  the  estimation  of  large-minded  and 
reverent  men.  The  bowing  at  the  name  of  Jesus  in 
the  Creed,  which  signifies  the  expression  of  faith  in 
His  Divinity,  is  losing  its  deep  significance  through 
the  constant  nodding  of  the  worshipers.  The  signing 
of  the  cross,  solemn  token  of  membership  in  Christ 
and  the  pledge  to  fight  manfully  under  His  banner, 
is  losing  its  symbolism  in  its  frequent  repetition  on 
all  trivial  occasions.  The  Invocation  of  the  Holy 
Trinity  has  lost  its  majestic  meaning  by  its  frequent 
use  as  a  prelude  to  many  feeble  utterances  in  the 
pulpit.  *  *  *  *  It  does  not  become  one  of  our 
clergy  to  ape  usages  from  alien  communions.  Try, 
by  life,  teaching,  and  mode  of  administration,  to  im- 
personate the  Church's  genius.  This  is  honesty  and 
loyalty.  In  a  word — excuse  plainness — every  honest 
man  will  go  where  he  is  at  home." 

With  equal  plainness  did  he  speak  of  rationalism : 
"Our  Lord  constantly  appealed  to  'Moses  and 
the  Prophets'  as  the  Oracles  of  God.  Never 
neutralize  by  your  criticisms — the  'Higher  Criticism' 
so-called — the  indorsement  of  your  sovereign.  If 
you  cannot  agree  with  your  Master,  like  honest  men 
throw  up  your  commissions.  When  He  declares — 
in  answer  to  the  question,  'Lord  are  there  few  that 
be  saved?' — 'Strive  to  enter  in  at  the  strait  gate,  for 
strait  is  the  gate,  and  narrow  is  the  way  that  leadeth 
unto  life,  and  few  there  be  that  find  it' — dare  not  to 
intimate  to  your  people  the  damning  delusions  of 
'Universalism'  and  'Eternal  Hope.'  The  first  lie  on 
record  of  the  'Father  of  Lies' — as  our  Lord  stig- 
matized    him — was  uttered  when  he  told  our     first 

309 


RICHARD  HOOKER  WILMER 

parents  in  Eden,  Thou  shalt  not  surely  die.'  And 
there  has  been  no  Eden  since.  The  minister  who 
repeats  that  He  is  more  the  ambassador  of  Satan  than 
of  Christ.  There  should  be  inscribed  upon  his  pulpit, 
when  he  enters  it,  what  will  be  graven  upon  his 
tombstone,  'Here  lies  the  Reverend  .'  " 

The  strong  and  severe  language  used  in  this  public 
utterance  was  in  accordance  with  what  the  Bishop 
deemed  his  duty  under  his  oath  "with  all  faithful  dili- 
gence to  banish  and  drive  away  from  the  Church  all 
erroneous  and  strange  doctrine  contrary  to  God's 
Word."  In  following  up  his  public  exhortations 
with  personal  and  private  admonition  he  was  not  less 
explicit,  but  there  was  a  gentleness  and  sympathy 
and  consideration  that  ordinarily  made  nis  clergy 
desire  to  surrender  what  he  opposed.  In  official 
pronouncement  it  was  the  "Ordinary"  who  spoke: 
in  personal  intercourse  it  was  the  friend  and  father. 

The  new  theology,  as  he  understood  and  inter- 
preted it,  was  abhorrent  to  the  Bishop's  whole  nature. 
He  came  very  near  holding  by  the  dictum:  "What- 
soever is  new  is  not  true."  His  Christian  name  may 
stand  sponsor  for  his  churchmanship.  To  him 
Richard  Hooker  represented  all  that  is  sound  and 
lasting  in  Anglican  Theology.  "The  Ecclesiastical 
Polity"  was  the  task  of  every  candidate.  In  addi- 
tion to  this  he  required  of  his  candidates  only  Pear- 
son, "On  the  Creed;"  Mcllvaine,  on  "The  Evidences 
of  Christianity;"  Wilberforce's  Ordination  Lectures; 
Robertson's  Church  History  and  Browne  on  the 
Thirty-nine  Articles.  He  thought  little  of  Wilber- 
force  on  "The  Incarnation,"  but  he  could  not  recom- 

310 


LATTER  DAY  MINISTRATIONS 

mend  too  highly  Liddon,  on  "The  Divinity  of  Our 
Lord,"  and  Goulburn,  on  "The  Communion  Office." 
His  theology  may  be  thus  indicated  from  the  older 
books.  It  would  be  impossible  to  indicate  it  from 
latter-day  books,  for  he  read  very  few  of  them.  One 
of  the  few  modern  works  that  he  read  was  Bishop 
Thompson's  "The  World  and  the  Kingdom,"  which 
he  pronounced  "an  epoch-making  book."  It  will 
suffice  to  say,  that  to  him  the  Church  of  God  was 
divine  in  origin  and,  by  divine  institution,  episcopal 
in  administration;  that  sacraments  and  sacramental 
ordinances  were  not  merely  symbols  of  divine  benev- 
olence, but  were  also  actual  channels  of  divine 
grace;  that  though  God  is  not  bound  to  these  chan- 
nels we  are;  that  the  scriptures  not  only  contain  but 
are  the  Word  of  God;  that  heaven  and  hell  are  not 
metaphors  but  localities;  that  the  fall  of  man  was  not 
up  but  down;  that  sin  is  not  misfortune  but  trans- 
gression; and  that  the  duty  of  the  Church  is  not 
merely  to  encourage  in  the  way  of  life,  but  also 
urgently  to  warn  against  the  way  that  surely  leads  to 
everlasting  death. 

Independently  of  modern  literature,  and  by  the 
exercise  of  his  own  Christian  intelligence,  he  became 
more  and  more  insistent  on  two  truths,  which  seemed 
to  him  to  be  the  very  foundation  of  any  true  Chris- 
tian theology:  the  universal  Fatherhood  of  God,  the 
Father  of  Our  Lord  Jesus  Christ,  and  the  especial 
inspiration  of  those  Scriptures  that  tell  the  very 
words  of  our  Lord,  as  against  those  which  give  hu- 
man deductions  from  and  applications  of  His  teach- 
ings.    His  sense  of  responsibility  for  the  right  teach- 

311 


RICHARD  HOOKER  WILMER 

ing  of  these  truths  became  more  acute  with  the 
approach  of  the  time  when  he  must  close  his  earthly 
labors,  and  made  him  the  more  zealous  to  urge  their 
due  proclamation  upon  his  clergy. 

On  December  nth,  1899,  the  Coadjutor  Bishop, 
who  had  become  more  and  more  incapacitated  for 
work,  announced  to  the  diocesan  clergy  that  after 
conference  with  the  bishops  of  West  Virginia, 
Southern  Virginia,  and  South  Carolina — Peterkin, 
Randolph  and  Capers — he  had  forwarded  his  resig- 
nation to  the  Presiding  Bishop  of  the  American 
Church.  Under  the  law  of  the  Church  the  meeting 
of  the  House  of  Bishops  to  act  on  this  resignation 
could  not  be  held  for  three  months.  On  April  19th, 
the  House  met  in  New  York  and  accepted  the  resig- 
nation. Their  action  preceded  the  death  of  the 
Coadjutor  only  two  weeks.  During  these  months 
Bishop  Wilmer  made  few  visitations,  but  he  assumed 
charge  of  the  important  parish  of  Christ  Church, 
Mobile,  whose  rector  had  resigned  but  a  short  while 
before.  Every  day  he  came  in  from  Spring  Hill  and 
looked  after  the  interests  of  the  congregation,  and 
every  Sunday  he  was  in  the  chancel  and  added  a 
brief  exhortation  to  the  sermon  of  the  curate  to 
whom  he  entrusted  the  detail  work.  He  interested 
himself  also  in  establishing  a  training-school  for 
nurses. 

The  desire  for  Christian  unity  was  stronger  in  him 
than  ever  before,  and  he  brought  together  for  mutual 
conference,  early  in  March,  his  own  clergy  and  the 
Baptist,  Methodist,  and  Presbyterian  ministers  of  the 
city.    "]My  brethren,"  said  the  Bishop,  after  a  prayer 

312 


LATTER  DAY  MINISTRATIONS 

by  the  venerable  pastor  of  the  leading  Presbyterian 
Church,  the  Rev.  Dr.  Burgett,  *T  am  nearing  home; 
and  as  the  time  comes  on  for  me  to  take  my  leave  I 
am  more  and  more  impressed  by  a  thought  which  I 
wish  to  give  you  this  morning.     I  have  been  moved — 
by  the  Holy  Spirit  I  trust — to  call  you  together  to 
give  you  this  thought.     We  are  divided,  it  is  true, 
but  with  all  our  different  modes  we  can  and  should 
aeree  on  certain  central  truths.      We  can  and  must 
unite  in  loyalty  to  our  common  Master.     I  am  more 
and  more  impressed  with  the  hope  and  conviction 
that  God  is  going  to  give  a  blessing  to  this    city. 
Brethren,  let  us  pray,  pray  as  never  before  for  that 
blessing.     Let  each  one  of  us,  with  his  separate  con- 
gregation and  in  his  own  way,  pray  and  work  for  a 
great  blessing  on  our  city.     It  will  surely  come;  for 
is  not  our  Father  more  willing  to  give  his  Spirit  to 
them  that  ask  Him  than  parents  are  to  give  good 
g-ifts  to  their  children?"    He  then  recounted  the  in- 
cidents  of  the  Great  Revival  in  Richmond  when  he 
was  a  young  man,  spoke  of  the  blessing  of  oneness 
among  God's  children,  and  concluded,  "It  is  our  divi- 
sions and  contentions  which  cause  infidelity.      We 
must  hope  and  pray  for  the  fulfilment  of  the  Saviour's 
prayer,  'Father,  that  they  may  all  be  one.'     And  this 
unity  is  to  be  brought  about  by  love  for  each  other 
and  for  our  common  Master  and  Saviour." 

About  the  first  of  April  the  Bishop  heard  that  an 
old  friend  who  lived  two  miles  away  was  very  ill  and 
wished  to  see  him.  An  appointment  was  made  for 
the  next  day.  The  buggy  was  not  ready  promptly, 
and  the  Bishop,  the  soul  of  punctuality,  started  out  to 

313 


RICHARD  HOOKER  WILMER 

walk  to  his  friend's  house.  When  he  arrived  he  was 
much  overcome  by  heat  and  fatigue.  He  drove 
home  and  took  to  his  lounge,  where,  for  a  month 
and  a  half,  he  lay  in  great  bodily  weakness. 

When  the  Annual  Council  met  in  Christ  Church, 
Mobile,  on  the  i6th  day  of  May,  he  was  again  in  bed 
after  some  slight  improvement.  It  was  manifest  to 
the  Council  that  his  work  was  at  last  at  an  end.  Ac- 
tion was  taken  to  meet  the  conditions.  The  diocese 
was  heavily  in  debt  on  current  expenses  and  the 
Bishop  had  in  private  letters  to  a  number  of  the  more 
prominent  clergy  and  laymen  a  few  months  before 
stated  his  own  position  with  brevity  and  clearness: 
"While  our  finances  are  as  they  are,"  he  wrote,  "we 
cannot  in  honor  elect  a  Bishop  Coadjutor.  I 
wouldn't  hire  a  negro  unless  I  could  see  my  w^ay  to 
pay  him."  The  Council's  action  in  the  premises 
was  characteristic  of  the  diocese  whenever  it  has 
faced  a  crisis.  In  forty  minutes  a  fund  of  four 
thousand  dollars  was  raised  to  wipe  out  all  indebted- 
ness to  the  Bishop  and  the  missionaries.  Permission 
was  then  asked  of  the  Bishop  to  elect  a  Coadjutor, 
and  the  request  was  granted.  A  blind  ballot  w'as 
taken  by  the  clergy,  who  found  themselves  divided 
among  a  half  dozen  persons;  yet  in  thirty  minutes 
after  they  had  left  the  floor  of  the  Council  to  make 
their  choice  the  selection  was  completed  by  the  un- 
animous choice  of  the  Rev.  Robert  W.  Barnwell,  of 
Selma.  The  Council's  whole  action  was  a  source  of 
gratification  to  the  Bishop,  and  the  election  of  Mr. 
Barnwell  was  especially  pleasing  to  him. 

The  newly  elected  Coadjutor  called  upon  the  dying 

314 


LATTER  DAY  MINISTRATIONS 

Bishop,  who  greeted  him  with  his  wonted  cheerful- 
ness. "Barnwell,"'  he  said,  "you  have  one  qualifica- 
tion for  the  bishopric :  You  can  smoke !"'  He  was 
growing  weaker  day  by  day,  but  he  was  able  to 
transact  some  business  and  his  mind  was  clear  up  to 
the  very  end.  A  few  days  after  Mr.  Barnwell's  visit 
the  missionar}'  budget  for  the  ensuing  year  was 
brought  to  him  and  he  gave  it  minute  attention,  tak- 
ing into  consideration  also  the  domestic  conditions 
of  the  missionaries.  Two  weeks  before  his  death  he 
was  roused  from  the  somnolent  state  in  which  he  lay 
nearly  all  the  time  and  a  letter  dimissory  was  put 
before  him. 

"You  have  only  to  sign  your  name  here,"  he  was 
told. 

"Let  me  see  the  document,"  he  responded.  "I 
never  sign  my  name  to  any  paper  that  I  have  not 
read."  And  he  read  it  through  and  then  af^xed  his 
name,  although  he  was  so  feeble  that  his  hand  had  to 
be  held  and  guided. 

He  was  fully  conscious  of  his  approaching  disso- 
lution, but  seemed  indifferent  to  it.  He  used  to  say, 
when  he  was  in  health,  that  he  was  ready  to  go  when 
he  should  be  called,  but  that  this  world  was  a  good 
place  and  he  had  no  wish  to  leave  it. 

Now  that  the  end  was  near  the  old  humorous 
habit  still  clung  to  him.  Almost  his  last  words  were 
in  reply  to  a  question  one  of  his  sons  put  to  him. 
Bending  over  his  bed  he  said,  "Father,  do  you  feel 
as  if  you  were  passing  away?"  A  faint  smile  played 
about  his  lips  and  he  answered :  "I  have  never  passed 
away  before;  I  may  mistake  the  symptoms."     Pain- 

315 


RICHARD  HOOKER  WILMER 

lessly  and  without  disturbance  he  gradually  sank  into 
death,  the  end  coming  early  in  the  morning  of 
June  14,  1900.  He  was  eighty-four  years  and  three 
months  old. 

At  noon  on  the  following  day  the  body  was 
brought  into  the  city  from  Spring  Hill,  and  placed  in 
Christ  Church,  where,  before  the  altar,  it  lay  until 
five  o'clock,  the  clergy  of  the  city  in  their  robes 
standing  guard  in  the  meantime.  A  constant  proces- 
sion of  all  ages  and  beliefs,  Christian,  Jew  and  un- 
believer, filed  past  to  obtain  the  last  view  of  one  they 
had  loved  and  revered  so  much. 

The  burial  service  was  conducted  at  five  o'clock 
in  the  afternoon  of  June  15th.  under  the  direction  of 
Bishop  Hugh  Miller  Thompson,  of  Mississippi,  as- 
sisted by  Bishop  Nelson,  of  Georgia.  Only  ten  of 
the  diocesan  clergy  were  present,  the  others  and 
several  of  the  neighboring  bishops  being  prevented 
from  coming  by  the  very  brief  interval  between  death 
and  interment.  The  last  rites  were  performed  in 
Magnolia  Cemetery,  Mobile,  where  the  body  was  laid 
to  rest  in  the  presence  of  many  hundreds  of  persons. 

In  his  will,  which  was  made  on  February  6th,  1899, 
the  Bishop  made  due  provision  for  the  disposal  of  his 
soul,  his  body,  and  his  worldly  goods.  "My  soul," 
he  WTOte,  "I  commit  into  the  hands  of  my  Heavenly 
Father;  looking  for  salvation  only  and  entirely 
through  the  merits  and  mediation  of  His  dear  Son, 
our  Blessed  Lord  and  Saviour  Jesus  Christ,  in  the 
care  of  His  One,  Holy,  and  Apostolic  Church.  My 
body  I  commit  to  the  custody  of  my  family;  only 
absolutely   insisting   that   my   remains    shall   not   be 

316 


LATTER  DAY  MINISTRATIONS 

interred  in  any  church  building  or  vault,  preferring 
them  to  be  assigned  to  their  Mother  Earth,  with  the 
blue  sky  above  them.  *  *  *  All  papers  and  letters 
referring  to  private  affairs  should  be  burned,  except 
those  of  aft'ection,  which  my  children  may  value  some 
day.  *  *  I  ask  for  you,  chiefly,  an  assured  interest  in 
the  Divine  mercy,  through  Jesus  Christ  Our  Lord. 
Reverence  and  cling  to  that  Branch  of  the  One,  Holy 
Apostolic  Church  in  which  you  were  baptized  and 
nurtured.  'Fear  God  and  keep  His  command- 
ments.' Abhor  debt.  Suffer  rather  than  owe.  It 
is  not  necessary  to  live;  it  is  necessary  to  live  honest- 
ly.    Amen." 

On  \\'ednesday  night,  July  25th,  in  St.  Paul's 
Church.  Selma,  Bishop  Barnwell  having  been  conse- 
crated that  morning,  the  first  exercises  of  the  new- 
Episcopate  were  a  memorial  of  the  great  man  de- 
ceased. Tributes  were  paid  by  Bishop  Barnwell,  of 
Alabama;  Bishop  Johnston,  of  Western  Texas; 
Bishop  Capers,  of  South  Carolina,  and  two  of  the 
diocesan  clersrv.  The  hvmns  sung  on  this  occasion 
were  four  of  Bishop  Wilmer's  favorites,  which  he  had 
often  delivered  effectively  from  the  chancel  floor  of 
that  and  other  churches :  "How  firm  a  foundation," 
'T  heard  the  voice  of  Jesus  say,"  "Lord,  speak  to  me 
that  I  may  speak"  and  "Lead,  Kindly  Light." 


INDEX 


Adams,    William,     81 

Allison,    H.    L.,    91 

Andrews,    C.    W.,    4  3 

Annlston,  founding  of,  242;  opin- 
ion   of.    280 

Archdeacon,    office    created,    261 

Atkinson,  Bishop,  refuses  to  con- 
secrate Wilmer,  92;  opinion  of 
church  in  Confederate  States, 
151;  attends  General  Conven- 
tion,   157 

Eakewell,   A.   Gordon,    169 

Baptists,  Wilmer's  opinion  of, 
212 

Barnwell,  R.  W.,  263,  265;  elected 
Coadjutor   Bishop,    314 

Barrett,   Robert   S.,   264 

Beard,    Thomas    J.,    97 

Beckwith,    C.    M.,    236 

Beckwith,  John  W.,  169;  conse- 
cration  of,    192 

Bliss  and  Whittle,   244 

Bowyer,   Henry  M.,  14 

Bremot,    Felix    R..    160 

Broad    Hill,    Church    at,    71 

Brooks,  Phillips,  Wilmer  votes 
against    his   confirmation,    227 

Brown,  Margaret,  marries  Rich- 
ard Hooker  Wilmer,  29;  de- 
.scription    of,    29,    30 

Brown,    Philip    A.    H.,    264 

Brown,    R.    Templeman,    14,    43 

Bryce,    Dr.    Peter.    223 

Buck,   James   A.,    19 

Buel,    Dr.    Samuel,    13 

Buel,    Jane    Eliza    Wilmer,    13 

Butchers  of  Mobile,  contribute  to 
Home   for   Orphans,    187 

Ca  Ira,   mission  at,    32 

Canterbury,  Archbishop  of,  meets 
Wilmer,    179 

Capers,    Ellison,    254 

Carteret,    Sir   George,    13 


Chisholm,  James,   43 

Christ  Church,  Richmond,  Wil- 
mer preaches  at,  76 

Christ  Church,  Tuskaloosa,  ser- 
mon  at,   198 

Church,  Episcopal,  title  of,  101; 
reunion  of,  153;  and  the  Ne- 
gro, 233;   change  of  name,  251 

Church.  Episcopal,  in  Alabama, 
churches  closed.  100;  reunites, 
163;  depression  of,  208;  assistant 
Bishop  proposed.  262;  Coadjutor 
Bishop    elected,    264 

Church,  Episcopal,  in  the  Con- 
federate States,  formation  of, 
92;  convention  of,  92;  general 
convention  of,  92;  Prayer  for 
President  of  Confederate  States, 
98;  clergyman  prays  for  Presi- 
dent of  United  States,  100; 
General  Convention  m^eets, 
100;  Wilmer  advocates  con- 
tinued separation,  123;  fall  of, 
151 

Church  Hom.e  for  Orphans, 
moved    to    Mobile,    186 

Church  music,  Wilmer's  views  on, 
297 

Clark,    Thomas    March,    141 

Clarkson,    Bishop,    162 

Cobbs,  Nicholas  Hamner,  friend- 
ship with  Wilmer,  38;  death  of. 
90,    257 

Common  Prayer,  Book  of, 
changes  in,  224;  revisal  of, 
249;  punctuation  and  capitali- 
zation,  251 

Confederate  States,  formation, 
etc,  see  Church,  Episcopal,  in 
the   Confederate  States 

Cox,  Major  Richard,  13;  land 
grant    of,    18 

Cox,    Marion    Hannah,    13 


INDEX 


Coxe,    Arthur   Cleveland.    141 

Cushman,   George  F.,    169 

Custis,  Nellie,  God-mother  of 
Richard    Hooker   Wilmer,    16 

Davidson,  Mr.,  Archbishop  of 
Canterbury,    meets    Wilmer,    179 

Davis,  Jefferson,  Wllmer's  opinion 
of,    113,    116 

Deaconesses,  Wilmer  creates 
three,    109 

Domestic  and  Foreign  Missionary 
Society  helps  Church  in  Ala- 
bama, 171;   decreases  gift.   171 

Dueling,  Wilmer's  attitude  to- 
wards,   20  0 

Elliott,  Bishop,  attends  General 
Council,  101;  writes  pastoral 
letter  of  House  of  Bishops,  102; 
opinion  of  on  Church  In  Con- 
federate States.  151;  favors  re- 
union of  Church,  156;  declines 
to  bring  Georgia  into  Union 
without  Alabama.  163;  dies, 
176 

Elliott,    R.    W.    B..    1S5 

Emmanuel.  Henrico  Co.,  pastorate 
at,  66;  building  up  of,  68;  con- 
secration  of   84 

Fish,    Hamilton,    162 

Fitts.    Philip   A..    263 

Fitzhugh.    Anne   Brice,    15 

Forest.  Bedford  Co.,  pastorate  at. 
60 

Gailor,    Thomas   F.,    264 

General  Board  of  Missions,  cuts 
off  appropriation  for  Alabama. 
208 

General  Convention,  Wilmer  at- 
tends, 78;  last  before  Civil  War. 
81;  Anti-Southern  Party  in, 
132;  Wilmer  appeals  to,  141; 
attitude  towards  church  in 
Confederate  States,  149;  acts 
on  Wilmer's  Case,  158,  162;  at- 
titude  towards  the  negro,   239 

General  orders  Ko.  S8,  121; 
revoked,    144 

Green,  Bishop,  opinion  of  on 
Church  in  Confederate  States, 
151;        opinion        on       Southern 


Bishops  attending  general  con- 
vention, 152;  adopt  Wilmer's 
letter  on  reunion  of  Church, 
154 

Greensboro,  Wilmer's  residence 
at,    167 

Hanson,   F.    R.,   91,   97 

Harris,   Samuel    Smith,    185 

Hopkins,  John  Henry,  141,  153: 
endeavors  to  bring  Southern 
Bishops  to  general  convention, 
155 

Huft.    John    F.,   43 

Huntsville,  visitation  sermon  at, 
198 

Jackson,  Henry  Melville,  264; 
elected  assistant  to  Bishop  of 
Alabama,    266 

Johns,  Bishop,  attends  general 
council,  101;  opinion  of  on 
Church  In  Confederate  States. 
151 

Johnston,    J.    S.,    235 

Jones,    Alexander,    43 

Jones,    Samuel   G.,    97 

Kinckle,  William  H.,  19;  mission 
of    at    Ca    Ira,    32 

Lambeth  Conference,  Wilmer  at- 
tends,  178 

Lay,  Henry  C,  90;  opinion  of 
on  Church  in  Confederate 
States,  151;  attends  general 
convention,    157 

Leavell,   William   T.,    19 

Lindsay,    John   S.,    79.   264 

"Ma  Bettie,"  anecdote  concern- 
ing,   61 

^rcIvaine,    Bishop,    142 

Manliness,    sermon   on,    199 

Marriage  service,  Wilmer  pro- 
poses changes   in,   250 

Mason,   Emily,   111 

Massey,    J.    A.,    91,    97 

Maury,    Harry,    conundrum   of,    188 

Micou,  Benj,   179 

Miles.    C.    R.,   236 
Missions,     .WUmer's     opinion     of, 
245,    249 

Mobile,  Wilmer  settles  at,  167; 
visitation  sermon  at,   198 


INDEX. 


Monckton,  Lady,  Wilmer  guest 
of,    179 

Montgomery,  visitation  sermon 
at,    198 

Moore,  William  Channing,  Bis- 
hop  of    Virginia,    8 

Moody    and    Sankey,    244 

Negroes,  religious  education  of 
urged  by  pastoral  letter,  102; 
confirmation  of,  105;  evangeli- 
zation  of,   232 

Nelson,   Cleland  K.,   19 

Nelson,    R.    M.,    263 

Oliver,    R.    W.,    160 
Orphans^     Home     for     organized, 

107 
Otey,    Bishop,    refuses     to     conse- 
crate   Wilmer,    9  3 

Parsons,    Lewis   E.,    142 

Pastoral  letter  of  1865,  123;  sec- 
ond on  separation  of  Church 
from  state,  135;  third  on  ques- 
tion of  prayer  for  civil  author- 
ities, 146;  on  question  of  pas- 
toral on  refusal  to  join  union 
prayer  meetings,  227 

Perry,    William    Stevens,    148 

Peterkin,    Joshua,     76 

Phelan,    J.    D.,    91 

Pinckney,     William,     91 

Potter,  Horatio,  writes  to  Bishop 
Elliott,    156 

Powers,    Pike,    236 

Prayer  for  President  of  Confed- 
erate States,  see  Church  Epis- 
copal   in    Confederate    States 

President  of  the  United  States 
and  civil  authorities,  prayer 
for  124 ;  general  orders  to 
restore,     129;    restored,    146 

Pushmataha   parish,    266 

Quintard,     C.     T.,    letter    from    to 

Wilmer,    117 
Revivals,     Wilmer's     opinion     of, 
245 

Ritual  questions,  Wilmer's  opin- 
ions  on,    217 

St.  Alban's  Chiirch,  Washington, 
W^ilmer  celebrates  communion, 
305 


St.     John's     Churcli.     Washington. 

first    rector    of.     11 
St.     John's,     Fluvanna     Co.;     Wil- 

iner's    first    charge,    22 
St.     Paul's,    Goochland    Co.,     Wil- 
mer's   first    charge,    22 
Sansom,    Henry.    169 
Pchroeder,    H.    A..    97,    179 
Scott,    John    J.,    19 
Scott,    Sir    Thomas,    13 
Smith,    Stephen   Uriah,    97 
Spring    Hill,     Wilmer     settles     at, 

167 
Stewart,     John,     first    meets    Wil- 
mer,     38;     proposes     Emmanuel 
parish,     67,     257 
Stringfellow,  Horace,  made 

Archdeacon,    262 
Tayloe,    H.    A.,    91,    97 
Taylor,    Mercy,    13 
Theological      Seminary      of      Vir- 
ginia,   beginning    of,    10 
"The     Recent     past,"     publication 

of,    256 
Thomas,        George        H.,        directs 
general      orders     No.      38,      128; 
directs   general    orders   revoked, 
144 
Ticknor,    J.   H.,    91 
Transfiguration,    feast    of,   Wilmer 

proposes   date    of,    198 
Trinity      Church,      New      Orleans. 

consecration    sermon    for,    198 
Tucker,    J.    L.,    236 
University      of      Mississippi,      bac- 
calaureate  sermon   at,    198 
Upperville,    pastorate,    57 
Valley    Convocation,    organized   by 

Wilmer,    43 
Vinton,    Alexander   H.,    150,    160 
Virginia,   the   Church   in,    7 
Walker,        Cornelius,        rector       of 
Emmanuel,     94;     friendship     of 
Wilmer   with,    44,    275 
Whipple,      William      D.,      general 

orders  No.   38,   121 
Whittle,    Frances    M.,    46 
William        and        Mary        College, 

Chair   of   Theology   in,    9 
Wilmer,    Alexander    Brown,    born, 
59 


INDEX 


Wilmer,    Ann    Ringgold,    6 
Wilmer.    C.    B.,    14 
M'ilme'f,    George   Thorton,    14 
Wilmer,    Hannah    Cox,    death    of. 

14 
Wilmer,    John    Stewart,    death    of. 

94 
Wilmer,  Joseph  Pere  Bell,  Bis- 
hop of  Louisiana,  6,  22.  257: 
travels  with  Wilmer,  183 
Wilmer,  Maria  Louisa,  14 
Wilmer,  Marion  Rebecca.  13 
Wilmer,  Richard  Hooker,  rector 
of  St.  John's  Church.  Washing- 
ton. 10;  fourth  son  of  William 
Holland,  13;  born,  16;  school 
days  of,  17;  enters  Yale,  18; 
enters  Theological  Seminary. 
19;  made  deacon,  20;  ordained 
priest,  20;  appearance  of,  21; 
first  sermon,  22;  first  charge  of 
22;  marries  Margaret  Brown. 
29;  mission  at  Ca  Ira.  32;  mis- 
sion at  Richmond,  37;  declines 
call  to  Cincinnati,  39;  goes  to 
St.  James's  at  Wilmington,  40; 
goes  to  Grace  Church  at 
Berryvllle,  41;  sermon  making. 
42;  organizes  Valley  convoca- 
tion, 43;  breflik  down  in  health, 
46;  leaves  Berryvllle.  49;  re- 
turns to  Alexander,  50;  pleads 
for  old  maids,  54 ;  goes  to 
Upperville.  57;  marble  playing 
of,  58;  Marion  born.  59;  goes  to 
Emmanuel,  66;  life  at  Brook 
Hill,  75;  borrows  from  John 
Stewart,  77;  elected  delegate 
to  general  convention,  78; 
preaching  of,  79;  speaks  at  gen- 
eral convention,  80;  preaches 
first  sermon  in  Emmanuel.  S4 ; 
establishes  Church  for  Negroes. 
85;  opinions  on  political  ques- 
tions, 85;  opinions  on  slavery, 
86;  elected  Bishop  of  Alabama. 
91;  consecration  of,  94;  enters 
on  duties  as  Bishop.  97;  atti- 
tude towards  Church  in  the 
Confederate  States.  98;  uses 
prayer    for    civil    authorities    in 


Confederate  States.  99;  attends 
general  council,  101;  temporary 
secretary  of  House  of  Bishops, 
iOl;  arranges  for  instruction  of 
negroes,  102;  holds  services  for 
negroes,  105;efforts  for  soldiers. 
106;  organizes  homes  for 
orphans.  107;  creates  deacon- 
esses. 109;  annual  address  at 
Council  of  1863,  110;  opinion  of 
Jefferson  Davis,  112,  116; 
opinion  of  General  Thomas. 
128;  writes  pastoral  letter  con- 
cerning Church  in  Confederate 
government.  123;  letter  to  Gen- 
eral Woods  on  prayer  for  Presi- 
dent of  the  United  States,  133; 
issues  second  pastoral  on 
separation  of  Church  from 
State,  135;  orders  Churches 
closed,  139;  appeals  to  gen- 
eral convention.  141;  appeals  to 
Governor  of  Alabama.  142;  ap- 
peals to  President,  14  3;  orders 
prayer  for  President  restored, 
146;  contends  for  continued 
separation  of  Church  In 
America,  151;  correspondence 
with  John  Henry  Hopkins,  153; 
opposes  reunion  of  Church,  188; 
case  of  before  general  conven- 
tion. 158;  summons  special 
council,  163;  writes  on  rebuke 
of  House  of  Bishops,  164; 
formally  re-enters  national 
Church,  165;  settles  at  Spring 
Hill.  167;  visitations  of,  175; 
preaches  Elliott  memorial  ser- 
mon, 177;  attends  Lambeth 
conference,  178;  spech  to 
strikers  at  Wolverhampton, 
179;  receives  degree  of  Doctor 
of  Laws  from  Cambridge,  180: 
anecdote  concerning  Washing- 
ton, 181;  to  temperance  ad- 
vocate, 183;  Lazarus  conun- 
drum, 188;  consecration  sermon 
for  John  W.  Beckwith,  192: 
•sermon  for  consecration  of 
Trinity     Church,     New     Orleans, 


INDEX 


198;  Baccalaureate  sermon  of  at 
University  of  Mississippi,  198; 
visitation  sermons  of,  198;  ser- 
mon on  manliness,  199; 
preaches  on  wealth,  204; 
opinion  of  Baptists,  212;  deals 
with  ritual  questions,  217,  219; 
opinion  of  changes  in  book  of 
common  prayer,  224;  position 
on  religious  education  of  the 
negro,  232;  declining  health, 
242;  opinion  of  Anniston,  242; 
opinion  of  revivals,  245;  doubts 
if  a  general  conrenFion  can 
revise  Book  of  Common  Prayer, 
249,  opposes  changes  in 
punctuation  and  capitalization 
of  Book  of  Common  Prayer, 
251;  asks  for  an  assistant,  261; 
failing  health  of.  262;  health 
revives,  267;  on  confirnaation 
and  marriage,  270;  fiftieth  an- 
niversary of  wedding,  273; 
activity  in  old  age,  274;  on  the 
silver  question,  279;  opinion  on 
public  affairs,  281;  opinion  on 
phrenology,  284;  renewed  ac- 
tivity of,  286;  methods  with 
young  ministers,  29G;  on 
Church    music,    297;        preaches 


on  SOth  anniversary  of  his 
birth,  299;  on  skepficism,  300; 
▼  isits  Louise  Home  in  Wash- 
ington, SOS;  sermon  on  the 
efficacy  of  prayer,  306;  favors 
Christian  unity,  312;  last  ill- 
ness, 314;  death  of,  316;  funeral 
of,    317 

Wilmer,  Simon,  father  of  Joseph 
Pire  Bell,   6 

Wilmer,  Simon,  head  of  American 
family,     5 

Wilmer,  Simon,  of  White  House 
farm,    5,    6 

Wilmers,    The,   origin   of,    5 

Wilmer,    William   Porteus,    13 

Wilmer,  William  Holland,  father 
of  Richard  Hooker,  6;  or- 
dained; removes  to  Virginia,  7; 
pastorate,  7,  8;  president  of 
William  and  Mary  College,  11; 
service    of.    12;    dies,    15 

Wilmer,  William  Holland,  (Jr.), 
112,   286 

^"ilmington,  N.  C,  St.  James 
Church,    pastorate,    40 

Wolverhampton,    strike    at,     179 
Woodbridge.    George,    76 

Woods,  Charles  R.,  issues  general 
orders  No.  38,  129;  threatens  to 
close    Churches,    134 


DUE  DATE 


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